Today, before the Senate Government Affairs Committee, Tom Ridge began his confirmation hearings to become head of the newly created Homeland Security Department. In what is expected to only be a one day hearing, Ridge won praise as President Bush's Director of the White House Office for Homeland Security, which was created after the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine), in her first hearing as newly-selected chairwoman of the committee, while providing overall praise, asked Ridge not to overlook the 2 million state and local officials around the country on the front line of the war on terrorism, noting that the legislation creating the agency, "offers no assurance that the new department will coordinate and communicate effectively with state and local first responders."

The Senate Democratic Leader, Tom Daschle (D-South Dakota), wanted Ridge's assessment of the financial resources needed for the department to organize and carry out its mission. Yesterday, Senate Democrats, arguing that the administration had failed to provide the funds needed to meet the nation's increased security needs, unsuccessfully tried to add $5 billion for security-related programs to a $390 billion spending bill for this budget year.

The Homeland Security Department represents the largest federal reorganization since the Defense Department was set up in 1947. It will combine almost two dozen agencies with 170,000 employees in an attempt to better coordinate anti-terrorism efforts at home. Included in the new department will be Secret Service, Coast Guard, Customs Service, Immigration and Naturalization Service, Transportation Security Administration, Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the General Service Administration's federal protective services.

Ridge was elected to Congress in 1982 and was elected Governor of Pennsylvania in 1994. After the September 11th attacks, President Bush asked Ridge to head the then new White House Office of Homeland Security. He won a Bronze Star for valor in the Vietnam War.