Ridge Announces Resignation as Homeland Security Secretary
Tom Ridge, the first secretary of the Dept. of Homeland Security, announced Nov. 30 that he would be resigning his position effective Feb. 1, or sooner if a successor is confirmed. Ridge, a former governor of Pennsylvania, has led the department, since Jan. 24, 2003, about a month before all of the agencies that comprise the organization formally were transferred to it.
The 180,000-person department is the result of the biggest federal reorganization in decades, encompassing the Coast Guard, Transportation Security Administration and 20 other formerly separate agencies.