Former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge says top Bush administration officials contemplated raising the terror alert days before the 2004 Presidential election, in a move he felt was not related to security, but rather politics (CNN). Attorney General John Ashcroft and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld wanted to raise the threat level following the release of a tape made by Osama Bin Laden criticizing President Bush.
In his new book, Ridge writes:
"We certainly didn't believe the tape alone warranted action, and we weren't seeing any additional intelligence that justified it. In fact, we were incredulous," Ridge said of the push. "... I wondered, 'Is this about security or politics?'"
Ridge says he saw no real motivation for raising the threat level because additional security had already been taken in the run-up to Election Day. The threat level was not raised in these days right before the election.
CNN also reported that:
According to 2004 exit polls, one in five voters said terrorism was the most important issue to them. Of those, 86 percent voted for Bush, 14 percent for Democratic candidate John Kerry.
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