Ridge: U.S. Is Safer Since 9/11, But Room For Improvement Exists

By AJ Swartwood - Talk Radio News Service

Are Americans safer now than they were before 9/11? That was the question put to former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Tom Ridge and U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.) on Monday.

Ridge, the former Governor of Pennsylvania (R) and the first person to ever lead the relatively new DHS, said the answer is ‘yes,’ but added that the nation’s national security efforts must remain vigilent.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that we are doing a better job,” he said. “Are we to the point where…we don’t need to improve anymore? I doubt it.”

Dent, a three-term Congressman who currently sits on the House Homeland Security Committee, echoed Ridge’s sentiments, but provided some caution.

“We have invested hundreds of billions of dollars to improve our once lax security systems, and we are in fact safer now…Are we safe from all terrorists threats?” he asked. “Absolutely not.”

Earlier this year, Dent introduced a bill in the House that would’ve stripped suspected terror abetter Anwar al-Awlaki of his American citizenship. The government alleges that al-Awlaki, a former Imam who was born in New Mexico and attended college in the U.S., has inspired Islamic terrorists to carry out attacks in the U.S.

Because the nation faces so many threats, Ridge said, the role of national security agencies must be to minimize risks. One way to do that, he said, is for agencies to collaborate on intelligence. Ridge said priorities have changed in the years since the Cold War ended.

“It may have been a need to know then, but now it’s a need to share,” Ridge said.