Ridge to visit
Hawaii for security
conference next month

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge is scheduled to visit Hawaii next month for the Asia-Pacific Homeland Security Summit & Exposition in Waikiki on Nov. 14-17, state officials said.

Ridge is a keynote speaker at the second annual regional security conference. He will address top government leaders, senior business executives, and security, technology and anti-terrorism experts who are gathering at the Hilton Hawaiian Village.

Other officials scheduled to speak at the summit include Hermogenes Ebdane Jr., the Philippines national security adviser; Ong Keng Yong, secretary-general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations; Adm. Thomas Fargo, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command; Albert F. Del Rosario, Philippines ambassador to the United States.; and Ralph Boyce, U.S. ambassador to Indonesia.

Last year, Ridge addressed the delegates to the summit by videoconference.

Ridge was in Hawaii in March during a stopover on a visit to Asia and met briefly with Gov. Linda Lingle.

The Governor's Office is organizing the summit in collaboration with the state Department of Defense, state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, the U.S. Pacific Command, the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, the US-ASEAN Business Council and the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii.

"Last year's inaugural event was the region's premier homeland security conference," Lingle said. "The 2004 summit will build on several of last year's topics, including a review of significant changes in regional security over the past 12 months."