I acknowledge that I know nothing about port security, but I am still concerned about contracting out important security operations that are supposed to protect the US to foreign countries, especially foreign countries that we do not have long-term, friendly relationships with. Also, do we really want China or the Philippines to have access to this "sophisticated U.S. radiation detector"? (Note that this is the "first time a foreign company will be involved in running a ... U.S. radiation detector at an overseas port without American customs agents present.")
It will be interesting to see how much these two contracts have been "vetted" in light of the DPW deal. It would seem that the Bush administration would have dotted all the "i"s and crossed all of the "t"s. I suppose we'll find out because Schumer is quoted in the article and does know about at least the Chinese transaction. So, I'm sure he'll follow up and we'll hear about it again.
I am cognizant of the fact that the MSM is probably exploiting these kinds of deals to make Bush and Republicans look bad. However, my reaction is not "knee-jerk". I'm more concerned about national security than Democrats vs Republicans.
That radiation detector is not a US invention. It is new of the US. It allows 140 container scans a hr. US port scanners allow only 20. DPW would have been the first to put these scanners in US ports. DPW has them in all their port operations. The union opposes the new scanners. Most all European ports already have the scanners.