a company in the United Arab Emirates is now in charge of security at six of our seaports? The president feels so strongly about this that he is willing to use a veto to make sure that this deal goes through. Is this not the craziest thing you’ve ever seen?
It is my opinion, that the United States should be in charge of the security of the United States. Not Great Britain, not France, not Dubai and not China.
From NRO:
Port Hysteria
http://www.nationalreview.com/lowry/lowry200602240812.asp
It is loosely said that Dubai Ports World would “take over” six ports. That’s false. The ports are owned by local governmental entities, and the company will manage only a few terminals. For instance, it will manage two terminals out of 14 in Baltimore. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey owns five terminals devoted chiefly to cargo. Dubai Ports World would be involved in only one, which it would manage together with a Danish firm.
A management company has very little to do with port security. It unloads cargo containers and then holds them until they are hauled out by trucks. As homeland-security expert Stewart Verdery says, this is but a small part of the process. The U.S. begins screening select cargo containers at their port of departure. Then, when they are on their way here, computer-based risk analysis is done to decide which containers need further scrutiny.
http://www.nationalreview.com/week/editors200602240946.asp
…..A firm like DP World basically operates the cranes. It is a small part of a big operation, with various U.S. government agencies providing the security.
TCB is correct. The interaction between companies and local and state officials is not clear to me. If Dubai will be "just" operating cranes then why is the President throwing down the gauntlet over this?
I think that the administration would view it as calming hysteria rather than throwing down the gauntlet. After all, they did agree to this 45 day waiting period. Given the news cycle,the story will be over in another week.