RIDGE'S WAR ON HOMEFRONT LOOKS LIKE A LONG ONE, TOO

WASHINGTON When President Bush brought his friend Tom Ridge to town to head
the Office of Homeland Security, it looked as though Ridge would become the
rising star of the Republican Party and perhaps the whole country.

If so, the star is rising very slowly.

Bush tapped Ridge, a former governor of Pennsylvania and a Vietnam combat
veteran, to lead the domestic war on terror - "coordinating a comprehensive
national effort to protect our country against terrorism, to frustrate
terrorists' plans, to help protect vulnerable points, and to prepare our
response to potential threats."

The president did not say the job would be quick.

The Bush team has stressed that the war overseas will last a long time and
that Afghanistan could be the first of many fronts. We haven't heard much
about a long war at home, but we should prepare for one.

While the military has made lightning progress routing Evil Ones in
Afghanistan with high-tech weaponry, the home front is far less developed.
Civilians on the front lines at home glance over their shoulders for
they-know-not-what.

Ridge has become known for issuing nationwide alerts - three so far - to
remind people that they must stay at highest vigilance for more,
unspecified terrorist attacks.

There's good reason for the alarm. Security experts speak of "when" the
next attack comes, not "if." They lay out dire scenarios. The menu of
domestic targets, weapons and delivery systems is infinite in its horrible
variety.

The most frightening scenario, William A. Wulf, president of the National
Academy of Engineering said at a conference of news executives recently,
involves cargo containers, tens of thousands of which come into the
nation's ports every day by ship. Only about 1 percent is ever inspected.

"The safest way to deliver a nuclear weapon is in a container filled with
cocaine," Wulf said. "I wish that weren't funny."

Ridge served seven terms in Congress, and he sounds more like a bureaucrat
than a warrior. He sees his job as "to develop a long-term, comprehensive
national strategy for homeland security" - rather than to protect the homeland.

The first step is to set measurable objectives, he said.

"They have to be measurable, because, in the development of this plan, I
foresee an approach that is, frankly, going to take several years.

"So how do we want to button up America? How do we want to harden America?

"How do we want to reduce the threat? How do we want to identify areas of
vulnerability and set priorities? These are the kinds of things that we
need to engage in, the kind of discussions, and then develop responses to
those."

For weeks, he couldn't start asking the right questions because his office
was in "response mode," dealing with anthrax.

"From time to time, regrettably, the homeland security office may be
required to put some of its assets and time into a response mode," he said.
Brace yourself for more attacks . . .

"Once we've identified the objectives, what's the strategy? I mean, there
are some gaps out there that are glaring," he said. "So we have to have
measurable objectives, and we have to develop a strategy to achieve those
objectives. And then I think we need to develop a blueprint for
implementation."

Bush has vowed to eradicate terrorism, but the experts say that's not
possible - even if we could afford it. Ridge is preparing a budget for the
fiscal year that begins in October, and he warns states and localities that
they'll have to pay their share.

He has set four budget priorities - training the firemen, police and
emergency medical personnel who are "first responders" to terrorist acts;
developing a "strong national strategy" to strengthen the public health
system; realigning federal agencies, including the Customs and immigration
service; and strengthening communications among local and state governments.

Anthony H. Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies
said it takes 18 months to create "a bureaucracy without bugs."

The first year Americans can expect their Office of Homeland Security to be
up and operating smoothly is not next year, Cordesman said, but 2003.

That's a long time to wait for a star to rise.