Tom Ridge is a mighty nice guy

Well, Dear Readers, it's time to report back on our confab with the first Secy of DHS and pardon my junky cellphone pics.

It was nice gathering and the hors d'oeurves were far too heavy. The conversation was... a bit lighter weight. The quote above was in wrap to his around-the-horn response to my question. Essentially: As a 6-term Congressman, how do you feel about a Unitary Executive and his signing statements--the neutering of the vital Constitutional role you mentioned of congressional oversight and cooperation?

Mr Ridge, gamely walked us through his 3 point matrix to keep Founding Principles holy. Decide things based on:

1. Security
2. Economy
3. Constitution.

That is the filter and the check and balance he said. "Things will work themselves out--be patient" he said. I felt much better. It's a heart-based thing, he said, referencing Justice Learned Hand in the photo/quote, above. Yes, we should trust because the President has looked into the eyes of the Constitution and knows it's soul.

Then the cloudiness really set in. He (not me!) brought up FISA and it's antiquated nature in a "throwaway cell-phone, digital" world. A follow up--hey, he brought it up: But doesn't FISA allow you to do whatever you want for 72 hours as long as you send somone back to cover the bases with the appropriate paperwork? No, no, he said. There's all kinds of red tape you have to go through. "Burdensome." FISA still "has its uses," he said without offering anything beside the times-have-changed, "Trust us," things will work out prescriptive.

Of course, now we have to decide: Do we play dumb and let him wave his arms for the students?

We played dumb. Okay, I prefer to say I played "semi-satisfied with his answer," after all, there was ham croissants and tomatoes with bruyere waiting for the after-chat. But there was an interesting digression from this point. He went into the fact of cold-war era security apparatus and its quiet presence in our lives and how we did fine with Hoover and company doing their thing. (Yeah, I know.) It was sort of a Gallagher-esque travelogue. Did I spook him or something? He went into the space race with the russians and sputnik and JFK and how our security state and national insecurity mindset led to neato inventions like, I suppose, Tang and Velcro, and wasn't that nice?

Very strange. He totally ignored that FISA was an outgrowth of abuses of that cold-war era system, ending with Nixon using national security agencies and reources for purely political ends. The Church Committe never was. FISA was an immaculate conception.

Aaa! The students! Eeeh. The Looking glass. Oh well, I was a guest.

On Katrina/FEMA: "I'm not going to criticize those who came after me....but let me say this. You did not have to be a meteorologist....just turn on the TV.... to see those storms moving across the Gulf, up and over here... to know a city 14 feet under sea level..... to know this was --could be really bad." (Profs McDowell and Hickok are gonna kick my butt for posting that but what the hell. It's nothing 200 million Americans don't already know and believe.)

On the mish-mash that is DHS, he said "In business terms--think of it like a holding company. That's what we did, merging and acquiring... 30 % of INS, 20% of Customs, etc.... Now, what company has 535 members on it's board of directors? I only get to choose 3 [as a PA voter].

(Alright, you got me where I live with that one. But please, stop with all the business-is-the-ultimate-model-of-pefection-crap, yeah? And careful, Tom. The same argument goes for public education and all the busybodies who've turned teaching our kids into a plate-spinning and juggling extravaganza--we get to refuse to hire people. Schools have to "hire" every kid that shows up on their doorstep.)

But I digress. He went on to some more questions:

Current DHS efforts and lapses: "Technology, not people, will fill the gaps."

Right about here, we broke for munchies and one-on-Governor. (He prefers Governor, since Secy is an appointed post, not elected, so "I earned that one." His dad was a lifelong democrat, his mother a Republican township committewoman.)

A handful of students, and me, the private contractor, chatted about the this and that of PA elecoral politics and "Casey need[ing] to get a grasp of the real issues" and Santorum's persona: "Interesting guy--you love him or you don't." "Lynn Swann's a celebrity and that helps, but that won't get you elected. He's got to learn the issues too." "Rendell's a friend, but I don't agree with where he's taking the state." So much for the red meat.

We returned to the "Technology/People filling the gaps" thing. He was talking lots about risk management, so I turfed him an easy grounder: So it's about risk minimization, not risk elimination? "Yes!" said he, "you get it!"

I was so proud! =)

Me: Thank you, Governor, it's sorta part of the day job. Can I ask you something about Dubai Ports World? Sure! he says. (I see the head tilt, but I think it was the hearing aid.) "You're mentioning risk-management a lot, which I like--many did not know who runs our ports, and you're doing a fine job of clearly explaining the cost-benefits of risk analysis rigt now. (Not really, but not bad.) Why was there not a concerted effort to educate the American public, to be an open-book manager, by the administration after 9-11? Just lay it out and explain what the real risks were?"

A stroke of the chin, another tilt of the head:

"Three things." (I'm sensing a pattern here) "One, the color alert system...It had its problems and some people had a good time making light of it, but that's begun to even itself out into an effective tool...you don't hear many complaints any more"

(Yeah, I know -- it's wearing cobwebs from disuse. I'll let you laugh without prompting from here on out.)

"Two: We created ready.gov.... there's lots people can do to plan for communication with family, maps, food and things. Our job was to educate! ...documentaries, programs... we've had similar ongoing efforts for 30 years... "

"Three: "...understanding that it's about Risk management, not risk elimination..."

Tom's a nice guy who worked in a not-so-nice administration. He does well with students, and he works with the war he's given, not the one he wishes he had. There were a lot of thought ballons left hanging in the air on Wednesday, many not difficult to grasp except for those obstacles called political positioning and polite discourse. But the sandwiches were good.