Whether you agree or disagree as to whether a foreign government should operate US ports, the controversy over the UAE port deal reveals a consistent pattern of Bush’s mismanagement of national security interests. Both the US port deal and Katrina share some key similarities of how Bush remains oblivious to what is happening in his own country and make you wonder just how effective he will be should this country be hit with another terrorist attack.
(1) It took Bush around one week to respond to saturated media coverage of people dying in the streets of New Orleans and a minimum of at least one week to even learn of the UAE port deal and then a few days later issue public remarks.
Saturday Feb. 11th: In a CNN story reported on Thursday Feb. 16: “The Associated Press reported Saturday that government-owned Dubai Ports World had won approval for the $6.8 billion deal from a secretive U.S. panel that considers security risks of foreign companies buying or investing in American industry.” So, the first media report of port deal would be the prior Saturday, or Feb. 11th.
Sunday Feb. 12th: Lawmakers were already urging Bush to reconsider the deal that was reported likely to be approved on Monday Feb. 13th.
Monday Feb. 13th: The ” U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), chaired by Snow, approved the P&O sale.”
Thursday Feb. 16: Port Authority officials and US lawmakers demanded answers from Bush administration on its decision to approve deal. “The Bush administration defended its approval of the sale. A spokesman for the White House National Security Council, Frederick Jones, said Thursday that security implications of the deal were `rigorously reviewed.'”
Saturday Feb. 18th and Sunday Feb. 19th: In a Feb. 23rd story, White House spokesman McClellan admitted that Bush did not know that the port deal had been approved until the prior weekend, which would be Saturday the 18th or Sunday the 19th. In other words, Bush did not learn of the deal until at least one week after it had been reported in MSM and covered extensively over the course of that week, with outrage expressed by both parties in Congress, the public, states where ports are located and the Port Authority. In a story reported on the 23rd, Snow had informed the reporter the day before (22nd) that he “learned of the deal” in the past “three or four days”, which would indicate he also learned of the deal over the prior weekend.
(2) In both Katrina and the port deal a process was in place to protect Americans, yet it was not followed by the Bush administration.
In Katrina, the government knew for years that the levee needed to be upgraded to handle stronger hurricanes, but the reconstruction was not done. Also, after 9/11, the federal government enacted a plan to handle crisis management and protection of lives in the event of a significant event of natural disaster or terrorist attack, but the plan was not followed.
In the port deal, the law requires a 30-day review of a deal and then a separate 45-day investigation of national security interests of a foreign acquisition. The Bush administration did not conduct the 45-day investigation of the UAE port deal. “According to documents, P&O and DPW said for the deal to go through, the committee must agree not to formally investigate the purchase or Bush must not move to block the sale for national security purposes. This waiver of a formal investigation is important. CIA director Tenet told the 9/11 commission that the US did not target Bin Laden at a camp in Afghanistan in 1999 because he was meeting with the UAE royal family which controls Dubai World Ports. “Several Bush-administration security officials expressed concerns” that “terrorists could infiltrate seaports through a United Arab Emirates company that is vying to manage six U.S. ports.” And, “Dubai, which owns and controls the acquiring company in this case, has been named as a key transfer point for shipments of nuclear components that were shipped to Iran, North Korea, and Libya, which were sold by Pakistan’s nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan.” Other news reports indicate that US Homeland Security Dept. would be responsible for cargo screening but the “port operator is responsible for securing cargo coming in and out of the port, the port facility itself and the hiring of security personnel.” Sounds like the 45-day investigation of national security interests may be a good idea. Better now than down the road after some attack or other event triggers a post-crisis review similar to the 9/11 Commission or the Katrina probes.
(3) The White House was out of the communication loop in both Katrina and the port deal.
Part of the problem with Katrina was that information was not shared and Bush was out of the loop. In the port deal, as well as with Cheney’s shooting, Bush was again out of the information loop. In fact, “no one at the White House, in fact, seemed to know about the sale of operations to the state-owned Dubai Ports of the United Arab Emirates until it was a done deal. Twelve departments were involved in the decision, but none made the White House aware that security concerns could have bubbled into the controversy it is today.”
(4) In both Katrina and the ports deal, authority to make national security decisions is delegated to political appointees rather than elected high-ranking officials.
We are all familiar with how cronies messed things up with Katrina. In the ports deal, the White House claimed that the Dubai deal was subjected to “careful review” by “people responsible in our government.” However, Bush and Treasury Secretary Snow, whose department chairs the federal panel that approved the deal,
did not know of the deal before it had been approved, and so obviously did not review the deal beforehand. In addition, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Pace did not hear about the plan until the same weekend as Bush and Snow. So, once again, some lower level political appointees, perhaps cronies, are managing a national security interest. Given that Bush is our “war on terror” president that claims great protector leadership of America from terrorists, why is a deal involving already insecure ports not deemed a presidential level matter? And, how many do-overs does President Bush get?
