Ridge backs off accusations of pressure

WASHINGTON, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- Former U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge backed off comments that he was pressured to raise the terror level before the 2004 presidential elections.

He said he didn't mean to imply that members of President George W. Bush's administration were considering raising the terror threat level because of politics, USA Today reported Monday.

"I'm not second-guessing my colleagues," Ridge said in an interview about his book, "The Test of Our Times," which hits the shelves Tuesday and recounts his experiences as the chief of homeland security during the first few years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

In the book, Ridge intimates his fledgling department was treated as inferior to other Cabinet-level offices. He said he was not invited to participate in National Security Council meetings, and wasn't included in FBI briefings.

Saying Bush's approval ratings typically rose when the threat level was raised, Ridge wrote that then-Attorney General John Ashcroft and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld pushed to elevate the threat level during a "vigorous" discussion. The threat level wasn't raised.