HOMELAND SECURITY Ridge defends country's terror alert level

Raising the alert level is a very labor-intensive process, he said.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said today he saw no contradiction in the government's renewed public warning of likely terrorist attack and its unwillingness to raise the official terror alert level.
The country remains on "yellow," the midlevel stage of the five-step terror alert program administered by Ridge's department, set up after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that killed some 3,000 people in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington.
Appearing today on morning network news shows, Ridge denied that the Bush administration was talking publicly of a threat -- without increasing the official alert status -- to insulate itself from criticism in the event an attack happens.
"I would say to those who would criticize this kind of public statement that if you ask the homeland security officials at the state and local level, they get it. They understand," he said on CBS's "The Early Show."
"I think it's very important to keep the public informed," Ridge said.
He went on the interview shows a day after holding a news conference to announce that a steady stream of intelligence, including nuggets from militant-linked Web sites, indicates the terrorist network Al-Qaida wants to disrupt the upcoming U.S. elections.
Future protection
Ridge said that in addition to elaborate security plans for the political conventions this summer in Boston and New York, officials are weighing how to protect polling places come November.
Asked Thursday to say what was substantively new in the administration's latest public statements, Ridge said the administration based its decision to bolster security on credible reports about Al-Qaida's plans, coupled with the pre-election terror attack in Spain earlier this year and recent arrests in England, Jordan and Italy.
Federal officials have "a certain sense of anticipation or expectation" of attack, Ridge said, "so you plug all this in and it is new. It is different and it's sobering."
Alert level
Asked on CBS why there was no increase in the terror-threat status, Ridge replied, "Well, we might raise the level at some point. We literally churn this information every day. ... The one thing we know from having raised the alert earlier is that it is very, very labor-intensive. If the picture changes, we'll tell America and if it changes enough, we'll raise the threat level."
On NBC's "Today" show, Ridge said Al-Qaida wants "to do something during this time period of the elections. You add all those things together, it does suggest there is some direct link to Al-Qaida leadership. How high up it goes remains to be seen."
Ridge had said earlier the administration was not raising its color-coded alert status and that federal officials do not have specific knowledge about where, when or how an attack might take place. The CIA, FBI and other agencies "are actively working to gain that knowledge," he said.