Homeland Security, a Politicized Issue

Kerry campaign aides who asked for anonymity because the matter is a delicate one theorize that the administration is manipulating for political impact the U.S. intelligence conclusion that al Qaeda hopes to derail U.S. elections with new attacks.

Democrats say the fact the Republican National Convention is to be held only miles from the World Trade Center site in New York weeks before the third anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks will allow Bush's promoters to invoke powerful imagery of loss, heroism and American resolve for naked political advantage.

Firefighters, whose union was the only one to endorse Kerry during the Democratic primaries, and New York police officers have volunteered to speak out during convention week if Bush is perceived as exploiting the convention date or site.

Republicans "will rue the day they chose this place and date, because it will backfire on them when people see that they are exploiting a tragedy," Democratic National Committee Chairman Terence R. McAuliffe said of the GOP convention.

"We are not, and will not in any way, exploit" the convention's proximity to Sept. 11, Bush campaign manager Mehlman said. "Their credibility in talking about politicizing this is zero, given their politicization of it."

In the first two years after the attacks, the politics of homeland security were relatively easygoing. Congressional Republicans were as likely as Democrats to criticize the Bush administration for foot-dragging and inattention.

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Chris Cox (R-Calif.) and ranking Democrat Jim Turner (Tex.) have joined to promote several initiatives, such as a bill to reset formulas determining how homeland security grants are parceled out to states.

But the two-party collegiality on homeland security has worn thin in recent months.

On the morning of Ashcroft's announcement, which cited weeks-old intelligence, Ridge appeared on five morning news shows. In contrast to the dire message Ashcroft would later deliver, Ridge said that the terrorist danger was serious but not the gravest it had ever been.

As Ridge's appearances continued, the Kerry campaign e-mailed Democrats asking surrogates to say publicly that "it was wrong to sit on this [terrorist threat] information so long" and expressing the hope that the administration is "following a security schedule, not a political schedule" in issuing the alert.

Just after noon, Schaitberger, who has lobbied for greater spending on firefighters, said the Ashcroft announcement scheduled for an hour later was a trick to divert attention from Bush's political headaches.

On the same call, David Holway, president of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers -- which also endorsed Kerry -- said, "the administration has been sitting on information that is vital to our law enforcement. I would hope this whole [Ashcroft] press conference has not been coordinated by the Bush committee."

Hours later, Ashcroft held his news conference, describing a graver danger than Ridge had described. Ashcroft said al Qaeda was "90 percent" finished preparing for an attack here. People close to Ridge said he and his aides were deeply frustrated by Ashcroft's statements, because the Homeland Security Department, not the Justice Department, has the authority to issue such alerts. Ashcroft had not vetted that language with other officials, they said.

Moderate Democrats on Capitol Hill were frustrated as well, but for a different reason. Starting early that morning, they told Kerry aides they were making a mistake by suggesting the Bush administration had politicized terrorism fears, congressional sources said.

"We told the Kerry people, 'you shouldn't be saying that. . . . A Kerry administration would say the same thing as Ashcroft,' " given the security concerns about the upcoming Memorial Day and plans for hundreds of thousands of people to visit the Mall, a Democratic staffer said. Rep. Turner said that "based on briefings I have previously received, the information presented today [by Ashcroft and Ridge] was accurate and balanced."