UAE Port Deal

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Okay, but customs officers (not employed by this company) are still inspecting the cargo. And, more cargo absolutely should be inspected than is now, but that's not the responsibility of this company whether it's foreign or domestic. No matter who runs these ports, it should happen.

But, you still haven't convinced me that this (having the ports run by a foreign company) is a problem. Let's run through two scenarios.

o Someone smuggles a bomb onto a cargo ship that makes it into Philadelphia. That cargo is inspected by US customs officials and discovered. Proper procedure goes from there for getting rid of it, disarming it, or otherwise blunting its effects.

o The same bomb is smuggled into Philadelphia, only the customs officials do not inspect it. It continues on its way and is detonated inside the country, in Philadelphia or somewhere else.

Obviously we want the former over the latter. How does this company make the latter more likely than the former?

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Because, as the excerpt stated: "And the Coast Guard merely sets standards that ports are to follow and reviews their security plans. Meeting those standards each day is the job of the port operators: they are responsible for hiring security officers, guarding the cargo and overseeing its unloading."

OK, now just hypothetically speaking: if YOU were going to smuggle a bomb into some place, wouldn't it also be nice for you to have the authority to hire and assign the security officers who are going to watch it--and to be in charge of "guarding" it, and to be able to oversee its unloading?

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What happened to the inspecting? My main point is that I see no way, if a bomb were "snuck" past the inspectors, that the company handling loading/unloading or guarding of cargo makes any difference. As long as the cargo is inconspicuous, and I'd imagine anyone paying millions to sneak a bomb here would take steps to make sure that is the case, those people don't matter here.

I would also say that it's in this company's best interests to keep these particular ports safe. It is, after all, a company in the interest of making money.

Keep in mind too, these are all going to be American citizens or legal foreign workers. They're not pulling Muhammad and Abdul from the streets of Dubai to do their work.

So, going back to my scenarios. How does this Dubai-based company make any difference or in any way help "the enemy" to gain access to our cities?