Ridge’s Room With a View--of All

Dogged by questions about its readiness to meet the next terrorist threat, the Office of Homeland Security opened its doors Wednesday to showcase its new high-tech headquarters.

The pulse of homeland security is housed inside a 38-acre naval base on Nebraska Avenue in suburban Washington. Once a girls’ school that was taken over by the U.S. government during World War II, the leafy complex is now home to 100 staffers from dozens of federal and state agencies who are monitoring intelligence and standing by to coordinate responses to terrorism.

Within the compound, one facility beats the White House Situation Room for equipment and space. With 10 50-inch television screens lining the walls and dozens of burgundy leather chairs surrounding a conference table, the Incident Management Room can handle a videoconference among officials from as many as 40 federal, state and local agencies.

Like a movie set awaiting the actors, the Threat Monitoring Center one floor up features desks set up in a grid, with signs overhead designating each of the dozen agencies represented, from the Immigration and Naturalization Service to the Central Intelligence Agency. The so-called bullpen is designed to operate 24/7, but during the tour for a small group of reporters, the staff was said to be in an “all hands” meeting. Nine clocks line the back wall; two are on standby to track the time as staffers monitor any terrorist incidents.

Finally, there is the Coordination Center, with four more wide-screen wall televisions and a huge map of the United States. Staffers sat in front of flat-screen computer monitors Wednesday as Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge discussed his job.

“The response of governors and mayors and state legislators and the League of Cities and the public sector, I think, has been positive, supportive and encouraging,” said Ridge, whose blueprint for the office is due at the White House by July 1.

If Washington has been a tougher sell than the rest of the country, one reason is Congress. Concerned that the homeland security director has control over a sizable budget, Congress has repeatedly asked Ridge to testify. The White House does not want him to, arguing that he is a confidential advisor to the president, not a Cabinet officer.

Then too there’s the problem of access. In Washington, proximity to power is counted in geographic units; an office next to the president is better than one down the block. By some accounts, savvy federal employees are hesitant to leave their offices in downtown Washington to move 4.3 miles to a naval base. Officials admit they are still 60 staffers short.

Still, 4.3 miles is well within attack range of the White House, and Ridge was asked why his agency did not choose instead to locate in a secure bunker. Ridge explained that the government was in a hurry. “There’s a sense of urgency about this.... This was the best and most immediate solution.”

Officials gave Wednesday’s tour before, as one staff member put it, “the curtain will fall” on public access. Staffers briefed on background, leaving Ridge to go public with answers.

Asked why the Incident Management Group was not activated last week, when pipe bombs began showing up in Midwest mailboxes, Ridge explained: “We didn’t need to lead. The FBI did a phenomenal job.”

Asked about the frustrations that have visited his effort-- such as ridicule of its color-coded system of warning Americans about the terrorist risk level from green (low alert) to red (severe)--Ridge, sporting a purple tie, gritted his teeth.

“I’m not authorized to be frustrated,” Ridge said. “I’m authorized to be patient, and persistent. I’m both.”