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Tom Ridge Says White House Abused Terror Alert System in New Book

by Amy Judd | August 20, 2009 at 01:20 pm

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Tom Ridge, the former Republican Governor of Pennsyvania, claims that the White House misused the terror alert system just before the 2004 Presidential election, and that he was pressured from top aides of George W. Bush to up the level, but he refused to do so.

In his new book, 'The First Homeland Security Chief', Tom Ridge claims that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Attorney General Ashcroft asked him to perform this action.

"After that episode, I knew I had to follow through with my plans to leave the federal government for the private sector," Ridge, who resigned soon after the election where Bush defeated Democrat John F. Kerry, writes in "The Test of Our Times: America Under Siege ... And How We Can Be Safe Again."

Critics of George W. Bush have often claimed that his government misused the terror threats to gain popularity.

"In this probing and surefooted memoir, Ridge takes us through the challenges he and his new department faced, including Anthrax scares and reports (both real and false alarms) of new Al-Qaeda operations sprouting up in the United States," says the publisher's summary of the book, scheduled to be out on Sept. 1.

Who knows if sales of this 'tell-all' book will be successful or not, but it is sure to stir up some controversy.

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