Tom Ridge reveals clashes on alerts, says threat level often raised over his protest

From USA Today:

The Bush administration periodically put the USA on high alert for terrorist attacks even though then-Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge argued there was only flimsy evidence to justify raising the threat level, Ridge now says.

Ridge, who resigned Feb. 1, said Tuesday that he often disagreed with administration officials who wanted to elevate the threat level to orange, or high risk of terrorist attack, but was overruled.

JuliusBlog has put together a chart showing a correlation between the terror alerts and Bush's approval rating over the past few years. It looks like Ridge wants to let the world know he didn't appreciate being used as a political tool as head of Homeland Security.