Yesterday Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge denied politics played any role in the recent raising of terror threat level. Ridge said “We don’t do politics in the Department of Homeland Security.” Questions were raised about the timing of the alert after it was revealed that most of the Al Qaeda intelligence was based on surveillance carried out before the Sept. 11 attacks. Yesterday unnamed officials told the New York Times the decision was made in part on new intelligence that pointed to a possible attack by Al Qaeda in August or September.