Tom Ridge, the nation's first Secretary of Homeland Security, will be remembered as the leader who put in place the foundation of a coordinated mission to protect this nation and its resources from terrorism.

He didn't accomplish all of his goals during his tenure, but it is doubtful that anyone could have done markedly better, considering the massive, complicated job of bringing 22 government agencies consisting of 180,000 employees under one department "umbrella."

Ridge should feel content about what he was able to do. He launched the process for the nearly two dozen agencies to work as a team, rather than in a manner, first and foremost, protective of their individual turfs.

The agency-coordination goal toward which Ridge worked, first as homeland security adviser in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and, since January 2003, in his current Cabinet role, might take longer than President George W. Bush's second term to fully accomplish. Accomplishing the task will involve not only a tough steering force at the top, but also dedication on the part of lower-level supervisors to expel entrenched, counterproductive attitudes of resistance to change that made Ridge's job so formidable.

The new department secretary must also be spared some of the obstacles Ridge has faced during his tenure. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., alluded to those roadblocks when, in describing Ridge as "a decent man and a fine public servant," noted that the former Pennsylvania governor had not been given the leeway or resources to tighten up homeland security the way it should have been done.

Thus, Ridge's efforts were constrained by barriers not of his own making. Perhaps his successor's service will have fewer of such barriers to surmount, with Ridge's accomplishments in place.

As new faces come on the scene at the 22 individual agencies - leaders who are motivated by the same vision Bush and the Congress had when the Homeland Security Department was created, and less dominated by the mind-set of protecting their own individual fiefdoms - the full-coordination challenge involving Homeland Security will not be so far over the horizon.

The Homeland Security Department, on the basis of its size alone, was destined to encounter nagging, persistent "growing pains." That Ridge had the courage to accept Bush's call to head the difficult security effort speaks well of Ridge's character, confidence and determination.

Despite the unfinished business that remains and the fact that Ridge didn't achieve all of the goals he had envisioned when he agreed to serve as head of homeland security, Ridge, who served six terms in Congress before becoming Pennsylvania's chief executive, merits high marks for the management skill he displayed while initiating the 22-agency reorganization process.

Indeed, it is the most significant reorganization within the federal government in more than a half-century, when the Department of Defense was created in the aftermath of World War II.

Ridge encountered some jokes about the color-coded alert system that he put in place to keep Americans informed, but Ridge's alert system was an easy-to-understand source of important information amid the fears that have followed the 9/11 attacks.

"He was dealt an impossible task," said Richard Clarke, the Bush administration's former top counterterrorism adviser.

However, Ridge's tenure was not a failure.

With the homeland security foundation in place, his successor will have a much more organized scenario to address than what Ridge faced.