“I have long advocated greater attention to the security of this nation’s ports as a former member of the House Homeland Security Committee and current lead Democrat on the House Trade Subcommittee. Vast amounts of cargo pass through our shipping ports each day and most of this cargo is in steel containers that are sealed abroad.  Once ashore, these containers are rolled out onto our highways and into our communities with little or no inspection.

“The takeover of many operations at the Port of Baltimore by a state-owned company of the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) raises many concerns and highlights the vulnerability of our ports.  I am calling for three specific actions in response to this impending sale:

“First, Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich should consider cancellation of this contract and reassess privatization of these operations at the Port of Baltimore.  Management of the longshoremen’s loading and unloading of ships could be handled by the Port of Baltimore directly, as it has been in the past. 

“Second, Congress should review and consider reversing federal approvals for the sale of the P&O Steam Navigation Company to Dubai Ports World, the U.A.E. company. 

“Finally, Congress must conduct oversight hearings regarding the Administration’s Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States.  This committee secretly reviewed and then approved this foreign sale.  In light of the ongoing threat of terrorism, we need to better understand the workings of this federal review process.

“As we seek to quickly deal with this specific port security issue, we need to intensify all homeland security efforts at our nation’s ports.  The federal government needs to pay much more attention to port security.”

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