Controversy: Nuclear Smuggling at US Seaports

The Associated Press story regarding the US government entrusting a Hong Kong conglomerate to help detect nuclear materials inside cargo passing through the Bahamas to the United States and elsewhere, on the heels of the Dubai ports controversy, has done much to bring the issue of seaport security and nuclear scanning to the forefront of political discussion.

According to the AP story, the Bush Administration confirmed that it entered into a no-bid contract with Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. will be involved in running a sophisticated US radiation detector at an overseas port without American customs agents present.

Since September 11, 2001, concern has increased that terrorists could smuggle nuclear weapons or materials into this country in the approximately 10 million containers that arrive annually at US seaports. Nuclear materials can be smuggled across borders by being placed inside containers aboard cargo ships. In response to this concern, since 2003, the Department of Energy has deployed radiation detection equipment to key foreign seaports through its Megaports Initiative.

Excellant reports from Jim Kouri of the Post Chronicle

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Yes this is the Chinese company (with ties to Chinese military intelligence, as proven after the Clinton fiasco) that has established facilties at both ends of the Panama canal and controls the logistical operations required by transiting ships. I believe they employ the pilots, without whom, ships cannot navigate the Canal.

Oh but not to worry, I believe it was our Senate Defense experts who said not to worry, the Panama Canal treaty gives the US the right to "intervene"...so we always have the option of using military force ....against a Chinese-run company in Panama with ties to Chinese communist military and intelligence services........ if they "slow down" or sabotage trans Canal shipping in the face of, say, a showdown over Taiwan.

Yeah, that's REAL reassuring.

The Chinese must get a real YUCK YUCK YUCK out of American greed and naivete.

He thinks it will turn into another Dubai type fiasco for the Administration.

Figures. It wasn't W's admin that started handing port contracts to foreign companies, yet Hillary will be the first to blame him for it.

Likewise furor over the first Patriot Act, from the same people who insisted on the Anti-terrorism Act of 1996 (which contains all the stuff the left complains about in Patriot).

And let's blame Bush for immigration policies, too, not Ted Kennedy!

Check your score card. Like it or not, this is the Bush Watch -- 2nd Term. It has been the Bush Watch since he was inaugurated for his first term. What happens on his watch IS his responsibility.

[Your argument reminds me of a former Dept Head who kept blaming her predecessor for all her ills for well over a year. One day, she blamed the former for some situation. I reminded her that 'former' was long gone before the current project ever came into existence. He had nothing to do with it. It was her 'baby'. She finally came to the realization that she could no longer blame 'former' for all her ills.]

No, this did not happen on his watch- the West Coast ports were subbed out under Clinton's watch and he should get credit if it's bad. That of course will not happen if the press can successfully bash Bush for what was a done deal long ago, which I think what this is all about- the left trying to look tough on security issues by using their own mistakes as a club.

I don't think W should have canceled all of the foreign port contracts on taking office.

I also don't see what's wrong with having a partner help screen ships and cargo. We used to be sort of isolationist, then came the Clinton "putting a face on globalization" effort which, good or bad, led to lots of cooperation between the USA and many partners. This current screaming about foreign partners helping us is oddly isolationist (and suggests that we can't trust anyone but the Brits).

Having Hong Kong, Dubai, or Northern Ireland agree to run a radiological scanner for us is a good thing. I'd rather they found a container with a nuclear IED in Panama or the Bahamas, than in NYC. Now that you have found it, what do you do and how is the device fuzed? Let's open it up somewhere offshore.

Kerry did something similar last week, when he blamed Bush for melting ice in Antarctica. After all, he's been in office 5-6 years and his policies did nothing to stop or even slow the melting!

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