Collins applauds heightened U.S. security alert

WASHINGTON — During an interview Monday on the Fox News Channel, Georgia Republican Congressman Mac Collins commended Homeland Security Chief Tom Ridge for heightening the security alert from “elevated” to “high” to protect America against terrorists during the holiday season.

But, Collins  emphasized, America is “not a nation of cowards” and believes we are safer now because of America’s military, the Department of Homeland Security under Ridge’s leadership and the nation’s Commander in Chief, President George W. Bush because of their vigilance against international terrorism.

Collins said the heightened alert was needed because it “comes at a time of the year when a lot of people are traveling, shopping at shopping malls and attending sporting events. It is just good to heighten law enforcement and security around each place.”

Collins, a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said Americans shouldn’t be intimidated by the heightened alert and should go about doing their holiday shopping and visiting their loved ones.

“It’s better to be safe than to be sorry,” Collins said, “But it shows how hard our intelligence community and the military and Homeland Security Chief Tom Ridge have worked to prevent a terrorist attack against America. We have good intelligence and our military is doing a great job. Americans should thank them and our commander in chief President George W. Bush for their vigilant efforts in keeping America safe.”

The American public, according to Collins, had to be made aware of the heightened security. “It is only common sense that we have heightened security to make the public feel more secure during this holiday season,” he said.

“The people like what’s going on and they like the fact that things are working much better. They see a lot of heightened security. They see that our intelligence community is working very, very well along with our military. The American people are taking it in stride because they know the heightened security is to protect themselves and their families.

“We have people in foreign lands that are making sure that we have protection against terrorism and that we will have less risk here on our soil,” Collins added.

Collins thinks Ridge’s action was well thought out. “It was a precautionary measure and not a knee jerk reaction. The terrorists would love nothing better than to slip in on us and attack during the holiday season,“ he said.

Terrorists, Collins believes, “want to disrupt our economy and they want to spread panic here.”

Even though Saddam Hussein is in custody, Collins said Americans shouldn’t put the threat of terrorism behind us.

“It doesn’t matter whether you take down Saddam or Bin Laden. Because each time you take out the number one person, somebody else is usually in the wings and anxious to take their place. They have lieutenants and other people in place to create havoc and create problems because their number one target is still America. So we must stay on alert,” he said.