I commented on this same fact, in this thread or a related one.
I responded to another poster who presented some Treasury Dept. documentation supporting how qualified Mr. Sanborn is, for the Maritime Administrator job.
My response was, essentially, (I'm paraphrasing);
O.K., he's very qualified;
are we supposed to take that to mean that no one else in the whole country is as equally qualified?;
I don't believe in coinicidences in politics; and,
we have a foreign company about to acquire its first major stake in U.S. assets in its industry and almost SIMULTANEOUSLY one of that company's top executives is leaving the company to head the US government agency that oversees that industry?? Mere coincidence??? I don't believe it. I most certainly do not believe in coincidences when it comes to deals in Washington, D.C.
I believe:
if we could get the documents that were submitted to CFIUS, and
know who they were submitted by,
and
know who outside of that committee spoke to that committee and its members (what lobbyists and people from congress - staff as well as reps - were involved),
and
follow their money and there political trails,
and
get the documents and letters of recommendations, to the treasury and to congress, for approval of Mr. Sanborn,
my guess is
that we would then find a convergence of interests behind both Mr. Sanborn's appointment and the DPWorld deal.
One poster said I needed to wear more tin foil. Sorry, I do not think people for whom money is the primary motive can be trusted to put their nation's interest ahead of that money interest, whether it be on behalf of themself or someone who is paying them to achieve an influence.
The bad part about the way that congress constructed CFIUS is that by taking any oversight role away from the "evil political and special interests" in Congress and providing no demand that all CFIUS decisions be taken all the way up to the Cabinet officers, and the President, it allowed that these deals would all be "back room" secret deals, in which the collusion of the permanent government in the bureaucracy with the lobbyists, would never see the light of day; until the %^^$# hit the fan with a deal like this one.
To say that CFIUS is working for the national interest and in the same breath acknowledge that out of a few thousand deals it has only turned down a handful, is more than a disgrace. The fox is guarding the chicken coop, in this area of our national interest.
I recently compiled a list of words and phrases I am sick of. I'm adding "tinfoil" to the list now.
The offer by DPW to P&O was made on November 29, 2005. DPW exec Dave Sanborn was appointed to a U.S. government position on January 24, 2006.
So, it's interesting that the U.S. Maritime Administration website lists "John Jamian" as the "Acting [since May 2003] Maritime Administrator." I guess Sanborn has not been sworn in yet? http://www.marad.dot.gov/Offices/MAR-100.html
The CFIUS was presumably notified of the offer sometime in December. Their decision was announced early February. Sorry I don't have exact dates. But, considering the Christmas and New Year's holiday, that was not much time for the review and required investigation.