The Times Herald March 05, 2006
Weldon grills execs of UAE seaport firm
By Keith Phucas
NORRISTOWN - The Achilles heel of seaport security is that once cargo is en route to its destination, no one knows "what's in the box," according to former Coast Guard officer, Stephen Flynn.
Cargo shipped to the U.S. and other world ports is virtually invisible because it's packed inside containers.
Flynn testified before House Armed Services Committee Thursday. The congressional committee is scrutinizing the Dubai Port World deal.
The port firm, owned by the government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has agreed to operate portions of six ports on America's East Coast, including Tioga Marine Terminal in Philadelphia. The deal's announcement in February created a furor in Congress and with the American public.
Flynn, a senior fellow at Council on Foreign Relations, warned that port security is woefully inadequate.
"My assessment is that the security measures currently in place do not provide an effective deterrent for a determined terrorist organization intent on exploiting or targeting our maritime (ports)," he said.
Illustrating the potential for disaster, Flynn offered a scenario that followed a container full of athletic footwear shipped from Indonesia.
A cargo crate is loaded onto a truck. Somewhere on the way to the seaport, however, al-Qaida saboteurs stuff a lead-wrapped "dirty bomb" into the truck trailer. Eventually, the bomb-laden cargo is loaded onto a ship and is unloaded in the U.S. where it explodes as the crate is opened.
"There will be no way to tell where the security compromise took place," he said.
The UAE, located in the Middle East, is a major transit hub for international commerce.
According to Congressman Curt Weldon, vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, the UAE has been linked to terrorism and illicit weapons shipments - including nuclear technology to rogue nations.
According to GlobalSecurity.org A.Q. Khan, former head of Pakistan's nuclear program, admitted selling nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea and shipping equipment through the UAE.
At one point, Khan moved his base outside Pakistan and controlled a network through associates in the emirate of Dubai, GlobalSecurity.com said. Also, he established his own production facilities in Malaysia with assistance from a network of associates and suppliers, including BSA Tahir, a Sri Lankan businessman operating out of Dubai.
Also, the U.S. government held off an attempt to kill Osama bin Laden at a hunting camp in Afghanistan in 1999, according to the 9/11 Commission report, after learning that UAE princes were there at the time.
At the hearing, the company's executives tried to calm fears that have arisen after the deal became public knowledge.
The DP World officials included chief operating officer, Edward Bilkey; George Dalton, general counsel; Michael Moore, senior vice president; and Robert Scavone, executive vice president for security for Peninsular and Oriental Steam and Navigation Company.
Weldon has criticized the Bush Administration for failing to inform Congress about the port agreement. Thursday, he lambasted Clinton administration officials for lobbying on behalf of the deal.
The firm's officials said the uproar over the deal caught them by surprise.
During Weldon's questioning, the executives confirmed that the company solicited former President Clinton's help recently to overcome security concerns, and said the former president had met with a UAE sultan about the deal.
"Why would you hire all these people to grease the skids if there were no security concerns?" Weldon asked.
The committee vice chairman pressed the panel for more details about which former U.S. officials were currently working to salvage the agreement.
"Lobbyists should not be the ones to tell us that this (deal) is OK. The facts need to be presented," he said.
The executives admitted that former Secretary of State Madeline Albright's firm had given the firm referrals, though they insisted her firm had not been hired. A former EPA head, Carol Browner, attended a meeting on the port deal, they said.
Weldon accused Clinton and former government officials of attempting to interfere with Congress' efforts to evaluate the deal.
"It is hypocritical that the Democrats are blasting President (Bush) for supporting DP World, while figures within their own party are lining their pockets with DP World's money and lobbying Congress to support the deal," he said.
Rep. Duncan Hunter, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said that in 2003 the U.S. filed a formal protest to try to prevent the UAE from shipping 66 electrical switches for a nuclear device to a Pakistani businessman connected to Khan.
However, U.S. efforts were unpersuasive and the switches were delivered.
On Friday, Weldon circulated a letter from "Al-Jihad Qaida," addressed to the emirates of Dubai and Abu-Dhabi. The 2002 letter, which was in Arabic and accompanied by an English translation, warned against detaining Mujahideen members and demanded releasing those being held.
The ominous message, which accuses the emirates of committing "acts of injustice," also said, "You are well aware that we have infiltrated your security, censorship and monetary agencies along with other agencies that should not be mentioned."
In February 1999, the CIA had located bin Laden at a desert hunting camp south of Kandahar. On Feb. 8, the military prepared for a missile strike on the camp, according to the 9/11 Commission. However, intelligence spotted aircraft from the UAE near the camp and called off the attack.
Less than a week later, the camp had been dismantled, Weldon said in an interview Friday.
"Because the Emirate tipped off bin Laden, the whole camp was gone," he said.
© Copyright 2006, The Times Herald
