Round Two of “Who’s Minding our Ports”: Bush Admin. Hiring Chinese Co. to Scan Nukes
by Pamela LeaveyHere we go again… Welcome to round two of “Who’s Minding our Ports.”
In the wake of the Dubai ports deal dispute, the Bush administration has given a no-bid contract to Hong Kong conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa Ltd., to “help detect nuclear materials inside cargo passing through the Bahamas to the United States and elsewhere.”
Here we have just another big F.U. from the Bush administration when it comes to the security of our ports. It was not so long ago that Bush “reassured Congress that foreigners would not manage security at U.S. ports,” however AP News reports “the Hutchison deal in the Bahamas illustrates how the administration is relying on foreign companies at overseas ports to safeguard cargo headed to the United States.”
The administration acknowledges the no-bid contract with Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. represents the first time a foreign company will be involved in running a sophisticated U.S. radiation detector at an overseas port without American customs agents present.
The administration is negotiating a second no-bid contract for a Philippine company to install radiation detectors in its home country, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. At dozens of other overseas ports, foreign governments are primarily responsible for scanning cargo.
Senator Chuck Schumer who led the call against the Dubai deal, said of this most recent deal to sell out our national security via our ports to a foreign company, “Giving a no-bid contract to a foreign company to carry out the most sensitive security screening for radioactive materials at ports abroad raises many questions.”
A low-paid employee with access to the screening equipment could frustrate international security by studying how the equipment works and which materials set off its alarms, warned Robert Sheridan, a retired U.S. Customs investigator who specialized in smuggling cases said, “Money buys a lot of things. The fact that foreign workers would have access to how the United States screens various containers for nuclear material and how this technology scrutinizes the containers — all those things allow someone with a nefarious intention to thwart the screening.”
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Why don’t we just hire North Korean to manage our Nuc programs. Keeps the middle man out of it and makes it a lot easier for them.
Whenever you think Dumbo can’t do anything stupider…a miracle happens…
Battlebob
Perhaps North Korea and Iran could do a coop deal. It will save big. Anyone who doesn’t get what lying bast*rd he is definately drinking the koolaid and the Tang!
HUGE difference between North Korea and Li Ka-shing’s Hutchinson Whampoa.
A no-bid contract sounds about right for the anti-democratic monopolist that the Li family represents.
I’ve got my bones to pick with the Li family and their cartels and stranglehold on local politics, but to suggest that his family represents a threat to the US is a different matter from the Dubai Ports World deal.
Tom
Just a joke about NK. The point is Bush “reassured Congress that foreigners would not manage security at U.S. ports” and then his administration gives a no bid contract regarding ports and nuke materials to a foreign company. It should be allright to do that.
Hey Folks: Bush is the treat to U.S. security.
Where is the attention to the CHRISTIAN FACING EXECUTION IN AFGHANISTAN!!
Please call on Kerry to raise a shout on this.
This issue is another one, like the Dubai Ports
deal, that shows the bizzare results from Bush foreign policy.
[...] was them dang Arabs… Well, that’s different… Or is it? Right on cue, the lefty blogs start the drumbeat of xenophobia…does any, anywhere, doubt for a minute that, if [...]
Hi Pamela:
Give me a call. Have lost your contact.
Pamela – As I can see from the trackback, the Busheviks have already moved to show this as an issue of xenophobia.
If the Democrats want to make an issue of this, better to attack the no-bid side of the deal. That way you can attack the crony capitalism of the Busheviks, and try to score some economic populist votes with Americans who are shut out of an economy based upon cronyism.
Ya might even be able to come out in favour of supporting democracy in Hong Kong by opposing the local capitalist tycoons and their Heritage Foundation friends that prefer implementing Milton Friedman undemocratically than to put their ideas to the ballot box. {email me if you’re interested in how this plays out and makes the Busheviks look like supporters of anti-democratic governments}
Democrats should support spreading democracy abroad, just not if it means torturing and torching with White Phosphorus.
I’m in no way xenophobic, but allowing foreign companies, especially those from countries who are not currently strong allies, to handle something like this is either stupidity or insanity.
Oh wait…it’s Bush. Need I say more?
Tom
When I first posted about the Dubai story I got hit with the xenophobe memes. Of course this news comes out while Congress is on break. The neocons don’t give a rat’s a** about democracy, they care about the almighty $$.
The Bushies seem to love to get mixed up with countries that don’t support democracy, China prime example. I’m one who believes that Tibet needs to be given back to the Tibetans, and Ireland needs to be given back to the Irish. Call me an idealist.
I’m curious, I’ll shoot you an email.
As I tried to explain over at AmericaBlog, Hong Kong’s lack of democracy isn’t just due to the mainland Communists.
Hong Kong politics makes for some strange bedfellows due to the British colonial heritage, which only allowed local elites to participate in governance. {Li Ka-shing, owner of Hutchinson Whampoa, has been knighted by the Queen for example.}
So the pro-Beijing leftists and cartel tycoons created an undemocratic system of Milton Friedman style government, that is the darling of the Heritage and Cato.
The pro-Beijing leftists oppose democracy, because the people might vote for people who don’t like the CCP.
The cartels oppose democracy, because the people might vote to open the economy to competition {no analogue to Sherman anti-trust here} and minimum wage/overtime pay {no minimum wage or overtime labour laws here} and more money for health care/education/environment and less money for sweetheart deals to crony capitalists. {They just repealed the estate tax here for example to ensure that Victor and Richard Li, who serve as the directors of the father’s business subsidiaries, don’t have to pay tax on their father’s billions and billions when he passes away.}
So instead of focusing on what might be termed “red baiting”, focus on the politics of economic opportunity {to reclaim a phrase stolen by jack kemp} and how the Busheviks and their cronies deny average Americans their slice of the pie by splitting it up in the backrooms of the country club of corruption.
That the shady business practices of Halliburton and Carlyle make them equally unsuitable for running US ports as Dubai Ports World. That the opposition to this deal with Hutchinson Whampoa isn’t just on the grounds of them being foreign but is because it supports anti-democratic elements and is just another example of anti-opportunity crony capitalism and backroom corrupt business.
Tom
It’s late and I need to mull this over with coffee in the morning. Thanks for filling us in. Are you interested in doing a guest post here on this? I did email you also.
[...] he news that the US is hiring a Hong Kong firm to help scan cargo for nuclear material has some on the left in the vapors again: Here we go again… Welcome to round two of “WhoR [...]
The Reality Based Community
Something that rather surprised me about that centre of the Reality Based Community, The Democratic Daily.Their comments policy: Bashing or attacking our members, Democratic leaders in office or candidates is not tolerated. And from the writer of the p…
Sorry Tom…no insult was intended but here is a snippet of my experiences with India and China.
Years ago, I wrote embedded software controlling electronic fuel valves for commercial aircraft. Later on we adapted the same mechanism for the Space Shuttle and other high-performance jet engines. We allowed our Indian facility to use this software for related purposes (actually in residential heating and cooling systems) under strict license restrictions. These control valves were a strategic advantage for our company
Remember that my typing and spelling without spell-checker sucks and I am always screwing up the “i before e” rule…or is it the other way around? Anyway, I misspelled many variables in this software.
Control valves made in China with similar embedded controllers contain this same code with the same misspellings. We encrypt our devices and also destroy the read-line so the code cannot be directly read. Our engineers in India sold them the source code to allow them to make the valves. In fact, our facility in India sub-contracted their work – which is our work – to Chinese firms. My research indicates security provisions are unknown. I raised a big, big stink about this…was told to shut up…and I quit the company soon after. When the next generation of Chinese fighters comes out along with their improving Space program (which means long range missiles), don’t blame me for their high-efficient fuel pumps.
I was also an engineer on Flight Management Systems used on both American and European airframe builders. Both were worried that we had detailed knowledge of their trade secrets and were worried that that knowledge would end up in the opposing camps. I told them that we weren’t the problem. That because they demanded the work be done in both India and China; the next generation of Chinese airlines would be a combination of the best features of both. I soon had another former employer.
The point of my ramblings is when we turn over trade secrets to others as part of manufacturing rights; we give away any future strategic advantage.
So right now, we are building the best military aircraft in the world; have great knowledge about harnessing nuclear energy; have drug discovered compounds that can wipe out the world if let loose. We are giving all this advantage away so a few can chase a lot of money they don’t need. Security and integrity have a price; it just isn’t very high.
There are import-export laws that are restrictive here; but are hollow regarding foreign companies; if their governments even bother to enforce them.
Tim Worstall
Not quite – http://www.noraid.com/
The British government still has their hands in Ireland.
You’re getting your views on Ireland from Noraid? Seriously? For example, the site says there are 30,000 troops in NI. Actually the number is below 9,000.
Yes, sadly, there are terrorists and murderers in the place. On both sides. You might have seen the news reports that Slab Murphy got raided recently, by both the PSNI and Guarda. Or perhaps you didn’t, perhaps you also missed the murder of Robert McCartney. You being so up to date with Irish events.
Another thing you might have missed. NI has elections to the British Parliament. The majority of MPs elected (and the constituencies are a great deal less gerrymandered than most Congress districts in the US) do not come from either Sinn Fein or the SDLP, the Nationalist parties. No, the majority of the population of NI is quite happy being part of the UK. Indeed, they insist upon it.
You know, the great traditions of the American Democrratic Party, Woodrow Wilson and all that, self-determination.
Tim
I hardly see how NI can have lections to the British Parliment and you can call them a free entity. How about Ireland having their own government without being part of the British government. That’s my point and the moint of many Irish nationals who want complete independence from Britian.
Why democrats will lose:
Schumer: “Giving a no-bid contract to a foreign company to carry out the most sensitive security screening for radioactive materials at ports abroad raises many questions.”
How democrats can win:
“Giving a no-bid contract to a foreign company to carry out the most sensitive security screening for radioactive materials at ports abroad shows this administration and the man in charge either cares nothing about the security of this nation or is dangerously incompetent”
“Giving a no-bid contract to a foreign company to carry out the most sensitive security screening for radioactive materials at ports abroad is a betrayal of this president’s oath of office and anyone who supports this no-bid contract has betrayed their oath as well”
“Giving a no-bid contract to a foreign company to carry out the most sensitive security screening for radioactive materials at ports abroad shows how little this adminstration and its supporters care for the citizens of this nation”
The Bahamas own the ports and can use who they like. We put no pressure on them to consider our security interests.
Dumbo will probably invade the Bahamas…as soon as he can find them and color the country in his kiddie map.
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from the article linked in this topic…
The National Nuclear Security Administration, which is an Energy Department agency tasked with strengthening nuclear security worldwide, is negotiating the Bahamas contract under a $121 million program it calls the “second line of defense.” Wilkes, the NNSA spokesman, said the Bahamian government dictated that the U.S. give the contract to Hutchison.
“It’s their country, their port. The driver of the mobile carrier is the contractor selected by their government. We had no say or no choice,” he said. “We are fortunate to have allies who are signing these agreements with us.”
Some security experts said that is a weak explanation in the Bahamas, with its close reliance on the United States. The administration could insist that the Bahamas permit U.S. Customs agents to operate at the port, said Albert Santoli, an expert on national security issues in Asia and the Pacific.
“Why would they not accept that?” said Santoli, a former national security aide to Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (news, bio, voting record), R-Calif. “There is an interest in the Bahamas and every other country in the region to make sure the U.S. stays safe and strong. That’s how this should be negotiated.”
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typical bush and chenney. It seems they forgot the incident a few years back when china tried to keep a few of our soilders and our spy plane when dumb dumb first stole the presidency. The soilders came home and the last I heard china never released the plane.
If anyone doubts china’s government won’t have their hands on this venture you better think again.
What is so hard about american workers running american ports and securing american ports. No it doesn’t make AMerica anti-globalization, racist, or any of the other names people have called those of us who disagree with foreigners of any stripe securing our ports.
We just want to see american security handled by americans just as any other country would want to secure their ports.