Editorial: Outsourcing threatens security

Sunday, Feb. 19, 2006 | 12:31 p.m.

Many Republican and Democratic members of the House and Senate are rightly voicing their dismay over the Bush administration's approval of a sale that would place a United Arab Emirates company in control of major operations at six U.S. ports.

The state-owned Dubai Ports World is on track to complete its $6.8 billion purchase of a British shipping company by next month. That company, Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co., operates large terminals in New York Harbor, Philadelphia, Miami, Baltimore, New Orleans and New Jersey.

Earlier this year, a secret U.S. panel, the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States, chaired by Treasury Secretary John Snow, approved the purchase after a two-month review. The White House followed with its approval.

But UAE control of major American port operations will not take place that smoothly if a growing number of House and Senate members are successful in their opposition. "In the post-9/11 world, there should have been a presumption against this company," Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., told The New York Times. King is the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.

Sens. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and Robert Menendez, D-N.J., have introduced legislation to block Dubai Ports World, or any foreign company, from operating port terminals in the U.S. Many other lawmakers are also opposing the sale, as is the chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, who says he was never briefed on the sale or the extent of the investigation into Dubai Ports World.

The fear, of course, is that the United Arab Emirates, a Persian Gulf country nestled between Oman and Saudi Arabia, is a breeding ground for terrorists. Two of the 9/11 hijackers were from that country, and some of their financing was traced to UAE banks. In its fact sheet on the UAE, the Library of Congress' Research Division says this about the country's most well-known port city: "Dubai is strongly linked to the Sept. 11 attack ... more than half of the hijackers flew directly out of Dubai International Airport to the United States. ... As of late 2004, evidence suggested that al-Qaida was continuing to use Dubai as a logistical hub for international travel, planning and finance."

The government of the UAE, a monarchy, is ostensibly pro-West, but can it guarantee against terrorist infiltration of its companies? We are alarmed about the sale and its implications for security at U.S. ports, which remain highly vulnerable. Congress should apply strong pressure on the Bush administration to reconsider its approval of this sale.