WASHINGTON -- The nation's first Homeland Security secretary announced his resignation Tuesday, saying he would leave the department he set up in February.

Ridge said he was quitting to give a higher priority to family and personal matters, "some things I have been postponing for years and years and years."

Asked about his future plans, Ridge told reporters at a news conference at department headquarters he would "step back a little bit, breathe deeply and then decide" what he would do next.

Ridge, 59, was sworn in as the first head of the then-still unformed department on Jan. 24, 2003. The department -- which merged 22 federal agencies employing 180,000 staff -- was stood up in March.

A close ally of President Bush, Ridge has faced criticism from Congress and others for the performance of the new agency, which critics have painted as an unwieldy bureaucracy. Supporters have acknowledged teething problems at the huge department, but cheer what they say is Ridge's success forging alliances with state and local agencies and private sector companies that control 80 percent of the nation's critical infrastructure.

Speculation has surrounded Ridge's future since the election. With one child in college and another approaching college age, he is said to want a higher paying private sector job.

Copyright 2004 by United Press International