Strange Details of Secret Spy Deal with Dubai Ports Co.

Turns out that, according to AP, the Bush Administration has a secret spy deal with Dubai Ports World (DPW), the United Arab Emirates-owned company set to assume operations of major US ports. And that spy deal was a Bush Administration requirement before DPW was allowed to assume control of US ports.

No facts have yet been released about when, where or by whom this secret spy deal was struck. What is known is this: the Bush Administration omitted from the spy deal many of the normal controls to prohibit sloppiness and illegalities, and to keep the company transactions within reach of the US legal system.

Here are the strange details that have, thusfar, become publicly known:

-- DBW agreed to reveal records on demand ONLY to the administration about "foreign operational direction" at US ports. Those records must cover broad details about "design, maintenance and operations" or ports and equipment in the ports. (No allowance is made for US laws on unlawful or warrantless surveillance.)

-- DPW must retain normal business records and those records described above, but is not required to keep records within the US, where they would be subject to US judicial proceedings. (Keeping records wthin the US is a routine requirement for deals with foreign-based companies.)

-- DPW must "designate an executive to handle requests from the US government," but that executive does not need to be an American citizen. (Again, this is a routine requirement for deals with foreign-based companies. The reason is that citizens of other countries could more easily leave the US, and not be reachable by the US legislative or judicial system.)
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The entire Dubai Ports World deal gets curiouser and curiouser as the light of truth is shed on this deal crafted in darkness.

As I live-blog this, I'm watching the Senate Armed Forces Committee briefing (airing on C-SPAN) of this deal. Senators John Warner (R-VA), Carl Levin (D-IL) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) are doing a suberb job of bringing many new, vital details to light.....

......among them, the fact that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, the 12-member panel run by the US Treasury that secretly approved the entire US ports deal, never once consulted the 9/11 Commission on the potential national security impacts of allowing a United Arab Emirates company to control US port operations.

The full story of the Dubai Ports World deal is far from known and over. In fact, I confidently predict that many stunning new facts have yet to emerge.....facts that will shock American citizens both about shoddy attention given to national security matters and about the extent of underhanded dealings by the Bush Administration. Again.
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