Linda Chavez said the same thing yesterday...
The other problem at the port
Excerpt:
With all the recent talk about security vulnerabilities at the nation's ports, one subject goes virtually unmentioned. The men who actually control many of the nation's docks, especially on the Eastern seaboard, are in the hip pocket of the Mafia and have been for decades.
Regardless of whether or not a Dubai-owned company manages operations at these ports -- currently the source of much hand-wringing in Washington -- many of those with the most direct access to the billions of tons of cargo that move through those ports owe their jobs to the mob.
How can that be? It all has to do with the peculiar institution of the union hiring hall. No matter who owns or operates the ports, the union, not the employer, actually assigns workers to jobs. You can't work unless you carry a union card. And on East Coast and Gulf ports, the union card belongs to the International Longshoreman's Association (ILA), one of the most mobbed-up unions in the country.
----------------------------------
And today, the NY Post goes into more detail....
The Real Port-Security Test
Excerpt:
March 10, 2006 -- It was probably inevitable that Dubai Ports World would withdraw its bid to take control of shipping operations at six major U.S. ports after the GOP-controlled House Appropriations Committee voted 62-2 to block the deal.
Obviously, President Bush would have had a difficult time sustaining a veto of bills preventing DP World's takeover.
The company's chief operating officer, Edward Bilkey, yesterday released a statement disclosing that it had decided to give up its management stake in U.S. ports - including New York and Newark - and would "transfer fully" that operation "to a United States entity."
That should be enough to satisfy those who opposed the Dubai deal.
Unfortunately, it isn't: Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) was demanding "an up-or-down vote" on a pact that functionally no longer exists.
Will politics never cease?
As for substance, let's be clear: Regarding security, foreign ownership is the least of the problems at U.S. seaports.
Going on five years after 9/11, no more than 5 percent of the containers entering the U.S. from abroad are inspected.
Advantage, terrorists.
I generally like the NY Post,but they repeat a misleading notion has seems to be widely accepted:
..no more than 5% of the containers entering the U.S. from abroad are inspected.
Virtually 100% of inbound cargo is screened at some level.The 5% figure pertains to "high risk" cargo that is physically unsealed,opened and inspected.To perform that task at a level much higher than 5% would cause an unacceptable slowdown in terminal operations and have a detrimental effect on commerce.
There's a good summation of many of the actual realities of port and terminal operations here:
Facts after the fact on the Dubai Ports Deal
The last sentence is a gem.
If congressional brains were cargo, there would be nothing to unload.