Trojan Horse Cargo

[Ryan Ruck]

I don't agree with the author playing down the DPW aspect but they make a good point about Hutchison Whampoa.

Trojan Horse Cargo

When a company from an allied country tried to take over the non-security-related management of a group of American ports, a firestorm of criticism forced it to withdraw. But when a company with close ties with an emerging enemy is poised to screen U.S.-bound cargos for possible terrorist threats, no one makes any fuss. And when the senators who were vigorously opposing the former deal are now supporting the latter deal, then something is wrong with this picture.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, New York Democrat, and Sen. Norm Coleman, Minnesota Republican, were two key players in blocking Dubai Ports World, a Dubai company owned and operated by the United Arab Emirates, from taking control of six U.S. ports including New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia.

So when Hutchison Port Holdings, a Hong Kong company owned by Li Ka-Shing, recently named by Forbes as the 10th richest man on the planet and someone who enjoys very close ties with the Chinese Communist regime, is going to be awarded a no-bid $6 million contract to detect nuclear materials inside cargos passing through Freeport, Bahamas, about 60 miles off the coast of Florida, I expected these great champions of national security would jump up and down to wave the red flag again.

And yes, they did say something.

Mr. Schumer accused critics of being ignorant on how effectively foreign companies maintain port security. Testifying at a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing on March 30, he said, “Hong Kong is more advanced than any American port I’ve seen.” Mr. Coleman, chairing the hearing, seemed to agree. He said, “I believe the Hong Kong concept holds great promise to achieve this goal of enhancing inspections without impeding commerce.”

Each year, about 11 million shipping containers enter U.S. sea ports; another 11 million containers enter the U.S. by truck; and another 2 million by rail. In the post 9/11 world, the Homeland Security Department launched the Container Security Initiative (CSI) to “push out our borders.” U.S.-bound containers are scanned and inspected in forty-three foreign ports by local officials but with the presence of U.S. customs officials before they reach the American shores. “We accompany them or do it in conjunction with them,” Kristi Clemens, a spokesman for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection said. “It’s the foreign port operator’s equipment, but we must be allowed to also inspect the cargo that is being transshipped.”

The deal with Hutchison would be the first time a foreign company will be involved in running a radiation detector at an overseas port without American customs agents present.

If Dubai Ports World, a company apparently without any prior suspicious deals, constitutes a threat to U.S. national security, then Hutchison, a company which was singled out by the U.S. government a few times before, should be deemed an even greater threat.

Three years ago, the Bush administration effectively blocked a Hutchison subsidiary from buying part of Global Crossing, a bankrupt U.S. telecommunications company, on national security grounds. In 1999, a U.S. military intelligence report cited Hutchison as a potential risk for smuggling arms and other prohibited materials into the U.S.

Hutchison’s port operations in the Bahamas and Panama “could provide a conduit for illegal shipments of technology or prohibited items from the West to the PRC [People’s Republic of China], or facilitate the movement of arms and other prohibited items into the Americas,” the now-declassified assessment said.

And of course, in 1996, the U.S. tried to block Hutchison from being awarded fifty year concessions at both ends of the Panama Canal, viewed as vital to American trade and security interests.

Hutchison Port, the largest port operator in the world, does have a good and sound system which allows 100 percent of the cargos to be screened in Hong Kong. Its Hong Kong terminals have enjoyed a number of high-profile U.S. visitors in the past months: Mr. Coleman was there last December, Mr. Schumer paid a visit last month, and Michael Chertoff, Homeland Security secretary, was the latest guest earlier this month. They are all very impressed with what they saw.

I don’t doubt Hutchison’s ability to do a fair job. What I worry about is what retired U.S. Customs investigator Robert Sheridan said: “Money buys a lot of things. The fact that (low-paid) foreign workers would have access to how the U.S. screens various containers for nuclear material and how this technology scrutinizes the containers—all those things allow someone with a nefarious intention to thwart the screening.”

After all, as Mr. Coleman admitted in the hearing, Hong Kong is not perfect. Last year, on two separate occasions, dozens of illegal Chinese immigrants were smuggled through Hong Kong into Los Angeles using maritime shipping containers.

One Trojan horse cargo among the 11 million would already be far too many.

[Brian Baldwin]

http://www.as-e.com/products_solutions/zbv.asp

This technology will serve well for such instances. But WE Americans need to be in charge of those ports. There is no excuse for foreign nations holding those contracts be they friends or enemies.