Romney Campaign Press Release - Secretary Tom Ridge: Classified Leaks "Are A Major National Security Problem"

"So, there's a series of things that the president has done that I think, frankly, disappoints us. And, frankly, the security leaks in my judgment are a major national security problem."  — Tom Ridge, Former Secretary Of Homeland Security

"Morning Joe"

MSNBC

July 25, 2012

MARK HALPERIN, TIME MAGAZINE: "Governor, you're a former Republican governor, a member of a Republican administration, but you're also one of the country's biggest experts on homeland security. As voters evaluate President Obama and the job he's done, what grade would you give him as a homeland security president?"

TOM RIDGE, FORMER SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: "Well, I've always been troubled by the fact that the president and many in the administration from the homeland security perspective when it comes to the jihadists and the extremists view them as -- view it as criminal activity. I think that's a -- I don't think, within that characterization, there's that sense of urgency that I think that we need to always be on our toes, to be a lot more vigilant about the threat of these jihadists. When it comes to the broader national security interests, I must express supreme and extreme disappointment. In the fact that for whatever reason, and regardless of the source, there have been serious, serious security leaks. Around the Bin Laden raid, around the virus involving the Iranian nuclear program, around, again, the doctor that we threw under the bus that assisted us in getting information. There was a revelation that we had a double agent in Yemen that enabled us to break up a terrorist cell, a threatened plot. So, there's a series of things that the president has done that I think, frankly, disappoints us. And, frankly, the security leaks in my judgment are a major national security problem."