Bipartisan Effort in House Gains Momentum to Block Dubai Port Deal,
Both Congressmen Say Foreign-government Ownership of
 Port Operations Represents a Serious Risk

WASHINGTON – U.S. Reps. Benjamin L. Cardin (MD-3rd) and C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (MD-2nd) today criticized the Bush Administration’s decision to turn over operational control of six U.S. seaports to Dubai Ports World (DPW), a company owned by the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.), saying it represents an unacceptable risk to national security.

The Bush Administration has approved the purchase of the British Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co to DPW.  If the deal goes through, DPW would have operational control of seaports in Baltimore, Miami, New Jersey, New Orleans, New York and Philadelphia. 

Strong bipartisan opposition has emerged to the deal.  Today, the Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-CA, plans to attach a provision to halt the Dubai port deal to legislation funding hurricane relief and military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. In addition, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-CA, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee has introduced legislation that would require any infrastructure deemed critical to national security be owned, managed and operated by Americans.

“This is not a matter of public relations; it is a matter of national security.  Democrats and Republicans have joined together in opposing this deal as not in the best interest of our nation,” said Rep. Cardin who has introduced legislation with Rep. Clay Shaw, R-FL, Chairman of the House Trade Subcommittee, to prohibit foreign-government owned operations at U.S. seaports. “It only takes one container with weapons components to penetrate our nation’s security and it is not worth the risk.”   

“I do not believe we should be gambling with our nation's security when it comes to who controls critical operations at America's ports.  I am very concerned that important information could fall into the wrong hands,” said Rep. Ruppersberger.
 
Rep. Ruppersberger has called for Congressional hearings about the potential sale of container operations at the Port of Baltimore to a government-owned company in the U.A.E.  He also co-authored a letter to President Bush asking him to stay the sale until a thorough 45-day full review can be conducted.  In addition, the Congressman has also co-sponsored several pieces of legislation that call for a thorough investigation in to the deal.
 
Reps. Cardin and Ruppersberger both represent the Port of Baltimore and toured the facility on Monday to meet with officials of the Customs and Border Protection Agency.  Rep. Cardin is the senior Democrat on the House Trade Subcommittee and Rep. Ruppersberger is a member of the House Intelligence Committee and co-chair of the Congressional Port Security Caucus.

The Port of Baltimore is the nation’s eighth largest port, handling about 2,000 ships a year and 31 million tons of cargo.  Customs officials estimate they are able to inspect 12% of the cargo coming through the Port of Baltimore.

--##--