Poetic Justice in Ports

By Michael Kraft

There is poetic justice in the port flap.

The White House is welcoming a much needed breathing spell in the controversy over the contract for an Arab-owned maritime company to operate six major American ports.

The Dubai�owned DP World company announcement that it will delay part of the deal to buy out the British-owned company that now handles the port operations is like a life saver tossed to a man overboard in a stormy sea. It provides a new lease on life but not absolute safety.

Stripping away the rhetoric, so much of what the Administration has done in the name of strengthening security against terrorism has reflected a "just in case" mentality, otherwise known as C.Y.A.

Airport screeners have randomly searched little old ladies in wheel chairs, the White House ignores the court approval requirement procedures under the FISA laws to "expedite" wiretaps against terrorist suspects, and enemy combatant prisoners are being held for several years without access to lawyers. And there was the invasion of Iraq, just in case there were nuclear weapons that posed an imminent threat.

In the port contract approval for the Dubai firm, the Administration did not follow the cautious "just in case" pattern. It did not error on the side of super caution when approving an Arab-owned port operations company. So, aside from the politics, it should be no surprise that there is a rebellion by some Republican as well Democrat members of Congress and State governors, who came to expect �if not accept-- the �just in case� tactics in the War on Terrorism.

Most experts seem to agree that the chances are slim that port security would be undermined solely because of the ownership of the management company are slim. Stephen Flynn, a port security expert and former Coast Guard official, has said ownership is at the bottom of the list of the many concerns about problems in preventing shipping containers from being used to sneak in weapons of mass destruction or key components.

Thus, it is worth standing back and taking a much closer look at the deal with the Arab-owned company and the port operations. If nothing else, further examinations had hearings provide more attention to for the more pressing problems--lack of resources and priority for screening cargo containers at the point of origin as well as US ports. Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of equipment, materials and training would be needed to properly deal with the security shortfalls.

In the end, if DP World does not back out, the deal is likely to go through but with some additional "safeguards" imposed. It remains to be seen if a potential compromise between Congress and the White House will actually result in stronger barriers against those who would compromise our security�and the appropriations to pay for them.

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