In October 2003 President George Bush signs the order creating the Department of Homeland Security in 2004, with its first secretary, Tom Ridge, standing at right.
It seems so long ago, Sept. 11, 2001. This year will be the 25th anniversary of the traumatic event that led to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. How things have changed.
Back then, the enemy was perceived as foreign infiltrators, usually from the Middle East. Today it seems that the enemy are new Americans, and those seeking to be, trying to better their lives. A few might be bad characters, but that’s true of any group in society. Most immigrants are documented, yet all seem under attack by a federal administration seeming to follow a playbook used by another dictator in the 1930s.
Not long after Nine Eleven, Tom Ridge, former Pennsylvania governor and U.S. Congressman, became the first director of the Office of Homeland Security. The purpose was to bring under one organization all 22 existing federal departments and agencies that had various roles in the defense against terrorist attacks.
In 2004 when the office advanced to a cabinet level department, Ridge became the first Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. That lasted until 2005, when he resigned after President Bush pressured him to ramp up the nation’s terrorist threat warning prior to the 2004 presidential election.
A moderate, law-and-order Republican, today Ridge would be vilified by the party as it has now become. His integrity intact, today he speaks out about major reform sorely needed for DHS. Some argue that it should be abolished. Doing so would not weaken the nation’s defense against terrorist attacks.
As long as their efforts were coordinated, the existing agencies could do the job, including Customs, Immigration, FEMA, TSA, Coast Guard, Secret Service, ICE, and APHIS (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service). The latter is a big deal, addressing “agro-terrorism,” (found in the plot of my fourth novel, The Swineherd’s Angel).
Test of our times
In his book, The Test of Our Times: America Under Siege…and How We Can Be Safe Again, Ridge reportedly said his “resignation was due to an effort by senior Bush administration officials to raise the nation’s terror alert level in the days before the 2004 presidential vote.”
In recent years he has continued to speak out against the manner in which DHS is targeting any immigrants, ignoring due process, flouting the rule of law, and invading cities where a majority voted Democratic. A 2020 story in the Pennsylvania Capital-Star follows the headline: “Former Gov./DHS boss Ridge: ‘It’d be a cold day in hell’ before he’d let ‘uninvited’ federal agents into Pa.”
A recent story in The Atlantic says, “‘Maybe DHS Was a Bad Idea’ – Two decades after its founding, the department has become what its critics feared.” The story leads off with, “’We don’t do politics in the Department of Homeland Security,’ Tom Ridge, the nation’s first DHS secretary, liked to say whenever reporters would ask how he handled pressure from the White House.”
The Atlantic story continues, “It was chilling to see DHS, founded to protect Americans from attacks by foreign terrorists, fantasizing breezily about the removal of nearly one-third of the U.S. population, which would have to include tens of millions of citizens.”
A PBS interview of Ridge in 2020 by Judy Woodruff is headlined, “Trump’s deployment of federal forces to U.S. cities akin to ‘invasion,’ Ridge says.” In the interview Ridge said, “It corrodes the federal system of government we have, the republic. It’s a reality TV approach to a very serious, serious problem.”
In September 2020, CNN reported that Ridge endorsed Joe Biden for president. It would be enlightening to hear what Ridge would have to say about the current DHS director. I’m sure he would be appalled at what’s happening.
Stockholm Syndrome?
In trying to understand this erosion of purpose at DHS, apart from the extremist ideology under which it currently operates, my thoughts dredged up one possibility, remote and perhaps facetious. You have heard of the Stockholm Syndrome.
Psychologists describe it as an emotional response in which a captive over time becomes sympathetic and has positive feelings toward a captor. Could it be that hanging around the world of terrorism so long, has the DHS become like them? Instead of calling a young mother and murder victim a ‘domestic terrorist’, by their actions it almost seems as though the label fits some ICE officers.
This analogy could go even farther, relating to the ~36 percent of Americans who still support the current federal administration. ChatGPT says, “Observers point to loyal followers defending or rationalizing harmful rhetoric and actions, despite personal or societal harm. Psychological parallels include emotional bonding with a dominant figure, defense against criticism, and rejection of contradictory facts.” This is a stretch, but it illustrates the difficulty of trying to understand.
‘Who’s Tom Ridge’
With Tom Ridge, it’s not all about politics. As governor he lent his name to the Tom Ridge Environmental Learning Center at Presque Isle State Park in Erie, PA. On a road trip by there in 2019, my previous background in the environmental field drew me in. I wish that I had recalled more about Tom Ridge.
It might have been in the gift shop, where I asked a worker there, ‘who’s Tom Ridge?’ He showed a stunned look, seeming to wonder if I was pranking him, or just an uninformed idiot. Graciously he prompted, “the first secretary of Homeland Security, our former governor?”
“Oh. Sorry, well, I’m from Minnesota,” I replied, immediately realizing saying that was a mistake. Not only did it fail to exonerate me, but it also besmirched the reputation of all Minnesotans. Yet, we feel accountable, so I did try to refresh my memory about Tom Ridge. That included sending him a letter:
“I am writing to advise you of my forthcoming novel, set in 2005 during the time you were Secretary of Homeland Security. The narrative includes references to the department, and the cast of characters includes several agents; however, you are not mentioned by name.
“In The Swineherd’s Angel, an ex-farm boy and a young woman student from Iran become united in a foreign animal disease outbreak in central Iowa, resulting in suspicions of “agricultural terrorism.” Not surprisingly, I received no response.
However, a similar letter sent to Tom Vilsack, former governor of Iowa and Secretary of Agriculture (2009-17, 2021-25), did receive a reply. In a hand-written note he said: “Thank you for your letter of Oct. 19, 2019. I am impressed that you have written so many books, and I wish you good luck with your recent effort. Unfortunately, with 3 jobs and 4 non-profit board assignments, I will not have time to review your book. It certainly reads from your letter as a book that is timely.”
And today even more timely, as DHS resources are being wasted on a fraudulent campaign against immigrants, when so many more important issues deserve its attention. It’s almost as if the terrorist attackers in 2001 have finally succeeded in threatening to topple much more than two skyscrapers.
