Nov. 30 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge resigned as leader of the government department created to protect the nation from terrorists after the Sept. 11 attacks, a department official said.

Ridge will announce his resignation at a news conference in Washington at 2:45 p.m., the official said on condition of anonymity. Ridge, 59, told colleagues he was tired and needed to earn more money for his two children's college educations, the Associated Press reported July 30. His salary is $175,000.

President George W. Bush picked Ridge to be the nation's first secretary of Homeland Security. He oversaw the integration of 20 federal agencies including 180,000 employees, set up the five-color terror alert system and initiated the practice of fingerprinting foreign visitors to the U.S. No terrorist attacks occurred during the three years Ridge served.

``We protect our homeland best when everyone takes up the chisel of freedom to mold our common heritage into a common purpose--a common purpose to defeat those who seek to destroy our lives and our way of life,'' Ridge told an audience in Somerset, Kentucky on Nov. 4.

Possible Successors

White House domestic security adviser Frances Fragos Townsend is a top candidate to replace Ridge, Newsweek magazine reported earlier this month. Other possible successors include former New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik and former U.S. Representative Asa Hutchinson, a top deputy to Ridge who's in charge of border and transportation security, the magazine said.

New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and California Congressman Christopher Cox, who is Republican chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, also are in consideration, said James Carafano, senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a research institute in Washington.

Ridge is the seventh member of Bush's 21-member Cabinet to resign since the president won re-election Nov. 2, including Secretary of State Colin Powell and Attorney General John Ashcroft.

Bush also is refashioning his economic team with the departure, announced Nov. 26, of National Economic Council Chairman Stephen Friedman, as well as Commerce Secretary Don Evans. Council of Economic Advisers Chairman N. Gregory Mankiw also plans to leave, the Washington Post reported, citing an unidentified official. Treasury Secretary John Snow may only stay until the middle of next year, administration officials said earlier this month.

Man on the Moon

Ridge was governor of Pennsylvania in 2001 when Bush picked him to lead the newly created Office of Homeland Security nine days after the terrorist attacks that killed 2,749 people in Washington, New York and Pennsylvania.

At his swearing-in, Ridge called his job ``an extraordinary mission,'' akin to building the transcontinental railroad or landing a man on the moon. With a staff of 100, he became chairman of a Homeland Security Council, which coordinated the work of more than three dozen federal security agencies.

Congress in November 2002 approved legislation creating the Department of Homeland Security, combining 180,000 federal workers from 20 agencies, including the U.S. Coast Guard and Transportation Security Administration.

`Taking Every Measure'

Bush nominated Ridge to head the new cabinet department, the nation's 15th, and he was approved by the Senate on a 94-0 vote on Jan. 22, 2003.

``We are taking every measure to protect the American people against a serious and ongoing threat,'' Bush said when Ridge assumed the job. ``The Department of Homeland Security will lead a comprehensive and unified effort to defend this nation.''

Ridge in October 2001 called for the public to remain calm when letters containing the toxin anthrax were delivered to media outlets in Florida and New York and to congressional offices in Washington. Five people died from anthrax exposure and a suspect was never identified.

The U.S. invasion of Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2001, led Ridge to warn that terrorist attacks could come in retaliation.

He unveiled the nation's color-coded threat advisory system in 2002 with five levels of alert from low to severe. The threat level was set at yellow, or ``elevated,'' until Sept. 10, 2002, when it was raised to orange, or ``high,'' ahead of the one-year anniversary of the 2001 attacks. The alert level was lowered back to yellow on Sept. 24.

Ridge raised, and then lowered, the national terror threat level four more times: in February 2003 because of concerns about terrorist attacks, March 2003 ahead of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, May 2003 after terrorist bombings in Saudi Arabia and Morocco, and December 2003 because of worries about possible airline hijackings during the holidays. In each case, the threat level was lowered within four weeks.

Localized Warning

Ridge issued the first localized warning in August, elevating the threat level to orange in Washington, New York and Newark, New Jersey, because of worries that terrorists had planned attacks on buildings in those cities. The financial services industries in those cities remained on orange alert until the warning was lowered Nov. 10.

The Secretary of Homeland Security is 18th in the line of succession to the presidency. Legislation has been introduced in the House of Representatives to move the position to eighth, after the attorney general.

Ridge was born in Pittsburgh and graduated from Harvard University in 1967. He was drafted by the U.S. Army and earned the Bronze Star for Valor while serving in Vietnam. After returning to the U.S., he earned a law degree from the Dickinson School of Law.

He was elected in 1982 to the House, serving five terms. He was governor of Pennsylvania from 1995 until 2001. He and his wife, Michele, have two children.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nicholas Johnston in Washington at njohnston3@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 30, 2004 13:50 EST