Coast Guard Had Said Intelligence Gaps Prevented It From Determining Port Deal Threat

Before the controversial deal was approved that would give a Dubai-owned company control of significant operations at six major U.S. ports, the Coast Guard warned the Bush administration it couldn't determine whether the company, DP World, might support terrorist operations. During a hearing Monday (February 27th) on the port takeover, GOP Senator Susan Collins of Maine, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, released the unclassified Coast Guard intelligence assessment that said, "There are many intelligence gaps, concerning the potential for DPW ... to support terrorist operations, that precludes an overall threat assessment" of the deal. "The breadth of the intelligence gaps also infer potential unknown threats against a large number of potential vulnerabilities."

But the Bush administration said yesterday that the Coast Guard concerns raised during the review of the deal had been resolved, and the Coast Guard itself released a statement in which it said the concerns raised in the document were ultimately addressed. Stewart Baker, an assistant secretary for the Homeland Security Department, told the lawmakers, "I think it's a little unfair to judge this report by one paragraph that happens not to be classified. This paragraph is not really representative of the entire report." But Collins answered, "I think the paragraph speaks for itself."

On Sunday, the Bush administration agreed to a request from DP World for a second review of the deal that would be longer and more in-depth. The deal, under which DP World would take over port operations now handled by London-based Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation, has drawn bipartisan criticism from Congress and, according to polls, the American people.

The more you hear about the ports deal as time goes by, do you feel more reassured that it's safe and won't threaten our security or less reassured?