Port review changes proposed

Mon., March 6, 2006

Hope Yen Associated Press

WASHINGTON – The U.S. must overhaul the way it reviews foreign acquisitions of companies involving U.S. ports, two key GOP lawmakers said Sunday, calling the Bush administration’s handling of the Dubai deal flawed.

The chief executive of Dubai Ports World, meanwhile, insisted his Dubai firm posed no security risk to the U.S. and said that he expected the proposed $6.8 billion purchase of London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co. will be completed.

The Bush administration, through a secretive board headed by the Treasury Department, initially approved DP World’s purchase of the London company, which would let the company take over significant operations at several major U.S. ports.

In the wake of a bipartisan backlash, the administration agreed last month to a 45-day investigation of potential security risks. Under that review, the U.S. government could block the portion of the deal involving the takeover of U.S. port operations even if the British deal is completed.

Lawmakers plan to continue pressing their concerns, starting today when Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., make a fresh push for their legislation that’s aimed at improving the security of unchecked cargo containers that enter U.S. ports.

On Sunday, lawmakers said reform of the review process was needed.

The problem is “the committee that conducts the review is weighed toward the Treasury Department,” said Collins, who chairs the Senate Homeland Security Committee.

“I think we need to scrap the committee, start again, constitute it within the Department of Homeland Security,” said Collins.

Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., and chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said he wants to scuttle the Dubai deal and then require foreign governments to divest from critical U.S. installations unless they pass a review by the departments of defense and homeland security.

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