Dubai Ports - The Saga Continues

Photo by Bob Elsdale

 

More on the issue whether Dubai Ports World (DP World) should be allowed to buy terminal operations currently run by P&O Ports at six U.S. ports from Britain-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co.? Not really a question anymore actually, but it's still a good sign to have the 45 day review.

The Bush administration said yesterday that it has accepted a proposal from a Dubai maritime [DP World] company to conduct a 45-day review of the national security implications of the company's plans to take control of significant operations at six U.S. ports.

The announcement by Dubai Ports World, brokered by the White House and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), appears to satisfy the demands of many members of Congress, who had threatened to force a security review if the administration would not conduct one. The deal also offered pledges to reassure the United States that the ports deal would not pose any threats to American safety and security.

Over the weekend a few helpful graphics were published, explaining visually the various stages of the typical journey of cargo containers. As explained before, P&O Ports and its new owner DP World are what is termed "Port Terminal Operators". For the graphics click here (shows the security concerns) and here (distinguishes security functions and terminal operations such as are carried out by P&O Ports, now DP World).

What you can see from both is that the management of the Port operations is but one link in a clearly global chain that is vulnerable and under-staffed at nearly every link. Now some of this is for business reasons-- security is expensive and in a very competitive industry like shipping, where the margins are narrow, speed is essential, and competition is fierce, any time and money spent on security really threatens the bottom line. So far, it seems the common wisdom was that there are no votes to be won from adding money to the Customs service, so they are under-resourced and stretched thin. As of yet, no one has good talking points on that. I hope that the real win here is that people will start to take port security a bit more seriously!

What made me laugh though, was the White House apparently saying in response to the review, that it was "simply willing to go along with their conclusion as long as it did not block the deal". So, do what you like, but, as the Cotillion sisters would say, "Everyone is entitled to our opinion." Biased as usual, criticism from WaPo and NYT are however justified; at least in as far as the White House first ignored the issue and then allowed it to go into overdrive until dealing with it in earnest.

Apart from the additional 45 day security review, negotiations on Friday and Saturday yielded these additional concessions:

But DP World said it would "guarantee" the independence of operations at the ports of New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Miami and New Orleans by establishing North American operations as a "completely separate" business unit. Management of the North American operations would be left in the hands of P&O's chief executive in London, who is British. The chief security officer of the North American unit would still be a U.S. citizen, unless the Coast Guard approves a change.

The rest of the current management of P&O in the United States also would remain in place, and DP World pledged not to interfere with operations, policies, procedures or security that was in place when P&O ran the U.S. terminals.

The statement concluded that all these pledges would remain in place until May 1 or the completion of the CFIUS review.

"We are confident the further review by CFIUS will confirm that DP World's acquisition of P&O's U.S. operations does not pose any threat to Americans' safety and security. We hope that voluntarily agreeing to further scrutiny demonstrates our commitment to our long-standing relationship with the United States," Edward H. "Ted" Bilkey, DP World's chief operating officer.

The deal was worked out over a series of meetings Friday among Frist, Bilkey, DP World lawyers, Cabinet secretaries and White House officials. Late Friday, Frist recommended to the government of the United Arab Emirates and to House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) that DP World request a security review and more clearly spell out how it intended to separate its U.S. operations from port management around the world.

DP World executives and their lawyers worked through the agreement all day Saturday, while GOP leaders in Congress and White House officials focused on the next political steps. Ueland said Frist is pleased with yesterday's company statement, indicating it comported with his expectations.

The guys on the ground however remain concerned, which is a good sign--they are the first in line who need to be vigilant and who hopefully notice any changes raising suspicion:

Out on the docks, the longshoremen have more varied opinions. "Given the situation with 9/11 and all the money that was channeled through the United Arab Emirates, and now you're selling a major port operation to them," Joe Fontaine, the senior dispatcher for the International Longshoremen's Association Local 333, said Thursday. "Uh-uh. That just doesn't sit well with me."

Question is, who will listen?

Another not to be missed post on the subject by California Conservative

Glenn Reynolds points to Mudville who point to a potentially injured third party in the Dubai port deal.

Check out James @ Coyote Mercury, with very good research and interesting links on the port security issue., with more here.

Previously on ATB:
Dubai Ports - The Bigger Picture
The Sum Of All Fears

More @ Roger L. Simon, The Anchoress, Gateway Pundit, NRO,

Comments

[gringoman]

Nevertheless, some nay-sayers are surfacing. As for "getting facts instead of emotion," Frank Gaffney, former assistant Secretary of Defense in the Reagan Administration, reacts to a favorite talking point re security.

"The Coast Guard is in charge of security, not the corporation." - That is true, but the corporation can make it easier to smuggle things into or out of the port by altering cargo lists, changing schedules, forging paperwork, or whatever. 50%+ of all security is paperwork. (visas, identification papers/cards, badges, concealed carry licenses, et cetera) All it really takes is for whomever does the paperwork to turn against you. The fact that the UAE is a politically friendly nation isn't terribly relevant; it's an Arab nation from the Gulf region. All it would take is some mujihadin sympathizers in the company, and I can guarantee that those are far more common in the UAE than, say, Britain. US officials who insist that this idea won't be a security risk obviously are not connected closely enough to the reality of security operations...."
This hasn't stopped "conservative" Bush himself from using a classic liberal ploy, worthy of "Pinch" Sulzberger's New York Times---the race card.."How could the British company be okay, and not the Arabs? This would be sending the wrong message."

At this point the headstrong Bill O'Reilly, normally the kind of "populist" the Left hates, in effect advises leaders, corporate lawyers and clients on how to sell The Deal, although he addresses not them, but his audience. Telling the folks to trust "the facts" instead of "emotion," he boldly admits that the Emir "runs that place, it's not a democracy, it's a fascist dictatorship." Is that good? Maybe not, but it's not so bad either. O'Reilly, in other words, suggests that Washington stop the mealy-mouth and be forthright. Acknowledge. De-classify reality. Are Americans not grown up enough to hear it? Why not admit that the UAE is a "fascist dictatorship"?

O'Reilly, in effect, says that the UAE is not your common desert-variety Islamo-Fascism. It's not Al-Quaeda, Hamas or the Taliban. Instead, the UAE is a shining example of friendly Islamo-Fascism. It would rather buy you than kill you.

----from "Doing It In Dubai." Now at gringoman.

[weekenderman]

Back on topic, when it comes to the ports deal there is no much misinformation and misunderstanding out there it's a good thing a final decision has been put on hold.

One side is unfairly saying that our ports are being "sold" and that "security is being breached," while the other side of the debate is saying that we need to trust a President who hasn't even been "in the loop" about this plan.

When the Jimmy Carter and Rush Limbaugh start agreeing, it's obvious that everyone needs to take a breather before dogs and cats start sleeping together.

[jeff stiles]

Whether you go by the moniker RL or Roaring Lamb or West by Southwest, it's obvious you do not care to abide by the common courtesies observed by other members of this blogging community.

North By Northwest was simply trying to help you, but yet you spit back in his face? I think your true colors are being shown, which is sad because ATB is intended to be a place for intelligent, stimulating and friendly banter.

By the way, are you even aware of the background of the term "Roaring Lamb"? It appears you have forgotten about the (humble) "lamb" part . . .

[James]

Thanks for the link to my blog. I hope this issue leads to some serious policy change, but I remain, sadly, very cynical.

[West by Southwest (southwest.com)]

i don't believe that Alexandra needs a spokesperson; and certainly not a dubious one such as yourself.

have you ever used any of M7's products, and if so, what do you think about their product-line ? you definitely sound as though you need to, "Recapture The Wonder" (R. Zacharias)

"Voici mon secret. Il est tres simple: on ne voit bien qu'avec le coeur. L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux." Antoine de Saint Exupery

"Grown ups never understand anything for themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them." Antoine de Saint Exupery

1 Samuel 16:7

[North by Northwest]

RL - I have to take issue with your careless way of formatting your comments on this blog and your imposing attitude.

As to the formatting: Your are wasting space and it is unnecessarily in our face. I must tell you that it is a sign of disrespect to leave such huge gaps and untagged links (all you have to do is type the following exactly like this, except for the dots; the first dot between "<" and "a" needs to go, so no do and no space, and the second dot needs to be replaced with a single space, like so "a href": <.a.href="LINK-URL">TEXT-TO-APPEAR-IN-COMMENT).

Imposing attitude: You are clearly enthusiastic and certainly welcome, but you make far too many inappropriate analogies and allow yourself far too often the luxury of venting your, at times juvenile, temper. This is not what ATB is about and it is not welcome nor is it what we, the ATB community, are here for--there are other and much more suitable blogs out there.

Alexandra's blog is much loved for the patience, quality and thoroughness of her commenters--no matter the political persuasion; everyone is welcome, but a certain style and etiquette is expected of everyone. You either shape up on your formatting, tone down your rhetoric and assume a more respectful attitude towards the quality of this blog and your fellow commenters, or you may find that you have overstayed your welcome and move on.

[RL]

The more facts come-out concerning this deal (ie. recently
declassified US Coast Guard documents concerning port (in)-
"security", and that this deal is for 22 locations),
the more this hyper-secretive deal stinks like the original
Fulton Fish Market at five am in the morning.
(before la cosa nostra burned the place down to the ground)

[David Foster]

Meant to say "CSX railroad was *not* bought by DP World"...

[David Foster]

Bill...CSX railroad was *not* by DP World. What happened was that CSX sold them some port terminal operations.

CSX continues as a public corporation; market cap is currently about $12 billion.

[Ghost Dansing]

Well, the whole UAE port issue is simply yet another example of incompetence and flawed politico-economic philosophy.

The notion that the American People should be fed a diet of fear whenever Dubya needs a vote, and then have their ports and other transporation infrastructure run by any foreign interest, let alone the UAE, is absurd.

[North by Northwest]

Chances are that nothing will happen in the current political status quo in the UAE. DP World will not get involved in their newly acquired, wholly owned subsidiary and apart from optimization and hardware investments, nothing operational will actually change at each of the terminals currently leased and operated by P&O Ports.

The problem starts as soon as things change in the Middle East. The Saudi monarchy looses its grip on power and the massive military might is now in the hands of a quasi theocratic republic - perhaps more moderate than Iran, perhaps still maintaining its alliance with the US, but now more actively sponsoring and supporting international Jihadists. Similar polarization would overcome the UAE with the consequence, that the top management at Dubai Ports, DP World's parent, is replaced with a more Jihad conscious team. Similar high level appointments would follow at P&O Ports, headquartered in London, who in turn would effect strategic personnel changes throughout their international operations, including those at our six ports. Parallel, a number of Jihad aficionados would have joined the longshoremen union, happily mixing with everybody else, waiting for the call to perform Jihad.

Is it necessary for DP World to support such a scenario? No, unfortunately it's not. Especially not if it is a single attack, limited in scope. Would it be easier to pull something much more complex and co-ordinated off? Yes, it would; especially involving multiple nuclear devices, which, if handled by non-supportive agents, would risk a much higher chance of being detected.

Can this highly speculative scenario be used as grounds to stop the deal? No, it could and should not, lest we abandon our free-market-economy principals. What then could or should be done? First and foremost, competent supervision, which does not slack off after the public has forgotten about DP World. And that is where the problem of having a deal like this begins and ends. If, and it is a big if, such competent supervision should ever be put in place, it will in a very short period completely disintegrate and become utterly useless. Happened with every other hot-button security effort throughout the country. What remains is understaffed, hopelessly underpaid, thus utterly unqualified, security operations.

Conclusion: For some time now, it hasn't been IF but WHEN and DP World is just one additional risk element, which may or may not bring us one step closer to the WHEN.

[RL]

a couple of must read columns by a real expert on port/maritime
security and the US Coast Guard at,

cfr.org/bios/3301/stephen_e_flynn.html

and more accurate, credible, and interesting facts concerning
the global war against islamoterrorism
(including cyber-islamoterrorism) at,

cfrterrorism.org

We (USA) are basically an overfed and big-fat sitting-duck.

A ridiculously easy target for evil, fanatical, and
suicidal-islamoterrorists from all over the kingdom of
islamic jihad.

Our port-(in)"security" is the laughing-stock of the
islamoterrorist world.

As several high-ranking Bush cabinet members have honestly
stated on the official-record, it is not a matter of if but a
matter of when.

[James]

I just found your blog while researching this issue for myself.

Port security is sadly not a very sexy topic. Your porevious commenters are right on about how easy it would be to slip a container into a US port. Unfortunately the Coast Guard is woefully underfunded and no one seems interested in taking this seriously.

I've been writing about this at my blog (www.coyotemercury.com/blog1) as well if you're interested.

Great photo as well.

[Washington]

There exists a body of opinion about the port deals as diverse as the New York Phone directory. Some say it is vital to Global economic standing whilst others argue that it is a deal wih the devil.

Two points:
1. Ports are by there very nature dangerous. Therefore it is vital that we secure them as well as possible. However, we will never remove all the danger.

2. A container might well hold a bomb. A person who enters the country illegally might well hatch a plot that is more dangerous than ten bombs. We must address immigration, especially along our Nothern borders.

[M'Bow]

You are correct, but I suspect Republican and Democratic senators and congress members will fall in line. The inklings of this are already in the air. See http://njn-blogogram.blogspot.com/2006/02/silence-cave-in-in-progress.html
.

[Bill]

DP World bought CSX last year, so they own massive railroad operations all over the place. I suspect they also own, or could easily acquire trucking firms, which would effectively give them door to door control.

If I wanted to smuggle a container of god-knows-what into this country, I'd simply disguise it as part of some larger innocuous shipment. Instead of 7 containers headed for Wal-Mart, now we have 8 -- except the 8th container isn't headed for Wal-Mart at all, but only the truck driver at the other end knows that. Even if one of these shipments was somehow miraculously discovered, DP World has plausible or even actual deniability all along the path -- they were innocent victims who were *infiltrated* and will have to review their screening process.

let's also not forget that DP World would also be responsible for handling about 40% of the US Military cargo into the mid-east from ports at Beaumont and Corpus Christi Texas. If any of the containers were mishandled, that's a bit of a problem, although this process does seem more complicated to subvert.

[RL]

Very cool photo Alexandra. : )

We are now almost five years post 9/11, our borders (North
and South) are wide-open, and our port (in)"security" is a
total-failure. Our federal govt. has totally failed us in
securing our borders, and in securing our ports; and the
evildoers who are determined to destroy our great nation,
and our freedom-loving way of life are obviously aware of
this national disaster. Meanwhile, at our airports,
perverted TSA employees like to feel grandma's breasts, and
make her take her shoes off of her senior and tired feet !

Quelle follie !

It's only a matter of time when one, out of how many million
containers, gets through the current-system and kills alot
of innocent Americans who weren't sufficiently protected by
their federal government. When is our govt. finally going
to learn what 9/11 was all about, and to seriously do something
(like securing our borders & ports) to prevent another terrorist
attack that will kill alot of Americans, and cripple our
economy (the jihadists stated goal).

These are two of the important reasons why i'm reluctant to
join the GOP. They aren't nearly serious enough concerning
the critical matter of national security. Mr. Negroponte's
regular presence in the White House will hopefully have a
positive-effect on these current failures and national-crisis.

One container is all that it takes to kill alot of Americans.
A realisitic nightmare that is going to be very, very
difficult to prevent. God have mercy on America.

"All that is required for the triumph of evil is for
good men to do nothing."
Edmund Burke

warfooting.com