Senators Schumer and Snowe Demand Answers from Homeland Security Department over Coast Guard's Dubious Assessment of Dubai Ports Deal
In light of Yesterday's Disclosure That the Coast Guard Reported Intelligence Gaps In The Dubai Ports World Deal, Bipartisan Group of Senators Release A Letter Asking Why Those Concerns Were Overlooked by CFIUS
Schumer-Snowe Ask How CFIUS Could Determine There Was No Threat If the Coast Guard Reported There Was Not Enough Intelligence to Assess the Threat
U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer and Olympia Snowe today released a letter to the Department of Homeland Security demanding answers about why the Coast Guard's concerns over the Dubai Ports World deal were ignored. The letter from Schumer and Snowe follows introduction of legislation that would block this deal and allow for Congressional approval or disapproval after the full 45-day investigation is complete. This Coast Guard memo was released yesterday and seems to vindicate the concerns that have been raised by Schumer and the bipartisan group of senators who are criticizing the takeover of six major U.S. seaports by Dubai Ports world.
Schumer said, "If this isn't a smoking gun, it shows that there may be one undetected by the CFIUS committee. We need to know why Homeland Security objected and then backed off their objection given this devastating report. This memo, in no uncertain terms, shows that the CFIUS evaluation of the DP World takeover may have been dangerously incomplete.
"On issues of our national security, the American people expect that federal government to take every conceivable step to protect our homeland. Yet unfortunately, when it came to the approval of Dubai Ports World deal, national security concerns seem to have been given short shrift given the revelation yesterday that the Coast Guard had concerns about gaps in intelligence. This is particularly disconcerting in light of the fact that Secretary Chertoff was unaware of either the deal or of these concerns until well after his Department had approved the transaction. Today, a bipartisan group of Senators is demanding answers from the Department of Homeland Security and these are answers that I will demand at a Commerce Committee hearing this afternoon," said Snowe.
Yesterday Senators Schumer, Norm Coleman (R-MN), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Susan Collins (R-ME), Tom Coburn (R-OK), Jack Reed (D-RI), Rick Santorum (R-PA), and Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) announced legislation to suspend the Dubai port deal, require that a report be filed after the 45-day investigation has been completed it be delivered to Congress for approval or disapproval within 30 days. House Homeland Security Chairman Peter King (R-NY) joined Schumer in offering this bipartisan bill in the House.
Over the last two weeks since Schumer first criticized this deal, a litany of homeland security professionals have come out questioning the deal including former DHS Secretary Tom Ridge, former DHS Inspector General Clark Kent Ervin, 9/11 Commission Chairman Tom Kean, former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and governors and mayors of both parties around the nation.
The emergency bill will:
* Require the President to place a stay on DP World's takeover of P&O ports.
* Require the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States commence an immediate 45-day investigation on the takeover's effects on national security. The bill also requires CFIUS to coordinate with other agencies, such as the Coast Guard, and to take in to consideration past security assessments of ports operated by DP World.
* Require the Secretaries of Homeland Security and the Treasury to prepare a full report and brief members of Congress on their findings.
* Upon receiving the report, Congress would have the authority to disapprove the sale within thirty days.
http://schumer.senate.gov/SchumerWebsite/pressroom/press_releases/2006/PR81.Coast%20Guard.022806.html
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