Politically tone-deaf -- the UAE's port administration

As you may have heard recently, a UK company that runs port operations in New Orleans, Miami, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Newark, and NEW YORK CITY has been bought out. The buyer: Dubai Ports World, a company owned by the government of the United Arab Emirates. The UAE is the banking and commercial capital of the Arab world. One of the 9-11-01 bombers was an Emirate citizen and Dubai banks helped finance the operation.

The acquisition's affect on US ports -- that is, keeping the management contract with Dubai Ports World -- had to be approved by the Treasury Department acting in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security and some other agencies. Allowing DP World to run ports in four major Northeastern port cities and the two most important ports with Caribbean access is really quite politically stupid.

The Administration may be trusting in the Customs Service to police the ports, but New York lawmakers are displeased, including Administration ally Peter King. King's criticisms are potentially devastating:

. . . a skeptical King said the investigation was "cursory and superficial," adding he's been briefed on the supposed safeguards and they amount to just asking the UAE company to watch out for security concerns.

"That only makes sense if you trust the company to begin with," King added, noting that the Bush administration panel that approved the deal is focused on encouraging foreign investment — not protecting U.S. security.

King noted that the same company managed the port in Dubai, where it is believed that weapons were allowed to transfer to Iran. He questioned why it should be trusted to provide better security in the United States.

King said he suspects the deal was rushed through without scrutiny from top U.S. officials, but now Bush is reluctant to stop it because "it could create a diplomatic debacle with the UAE."

Worse yet, the NY/NJ Port Authority lacked knowledge of the deal and is asking the administration for information.

For more, see LawHawk (who's NJ based and following closely), and Michelle Malkin is predictably but rightly concerned.