DP World Exec's Nomination Withdrawn

[ProSense]

DP World Exec's Nomination Withdrawn

By LESLIE MILLER, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 6 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - An executive with a Dubai-owned company withdrew his nomination as head of the agency that oversees ports in a letter to President Bush on Monday.

Bush in January nominated David Sanborn, DP World's director of operations for Europe and Latin America, to head the Maritime Administration.

Snip...

Former presidential candidate John Kerry, D-Mass., and Sen. Bill Nelson (news, bio, voting record), D-Fla., put holds on Sanborn's nomination, saying they needed to know more about his role in the process that allowed DP World to purchase the port operations in the first place.

"I hope the withdrawal of this nomination means the administration is finally waking up to the homeland security problems with our ports, not just saving face after the merciful end of the Dubai debacle," said Kerry.

more...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060328/ap_on_go_ot/ports_maritime_appointee_1

[Lindsay]

1. I wonder what they couldn't risk

having come out in hearings.

[NVMojo]

2. freaking A!

[ProSense]

3. 'DUBAI' BIG LOSES BUSH NOD

'DUBAI' BIG LOSES BUSH NOD

By GEOFF EARLE

March 28, 2006 -- WASHINGTON - President Bush yesterday yanked the nomination of a top Dubai Ports World executive to be the top maritime official in Washington.

Bush had nominated David Sanborn, who headed European and Latin American operations for the conglomerate, to be the top maritime administrator in January - before controversy erupted over a deal to sell operations at six U.S. ports to the company, which is based in the United Arab Emirates.

Bush strongly defended the company's right to go through with the purchase pending a review.

But, under congressional pressure, the firm backed out and agreed to find a U.S.-based company to run the ports.

more...

http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/66089.htm

Radioactive Materials Smuggled Into U.S., Investigators Say

By Spencer S. Hsu and William Branigin
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, March 28, 2006; 1:09 PM

Congressional investigators testing U.S. port security smuggled enough radioactive material into the United States last year to make two dirty bombs, officials told a Senate panel today.

In a test in December, undercover teams from the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, carried small amounts of cesium-137, used in industrial applications, in the trunks of rental cars through official crossing points on the U.S. borders with Canada and Mexico. The material triggered radiation alarms, but the undercover investigators used false documents to persuade U.S. Customs and Border Protection inspectors to let them through.

more...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/28/AR2006032800774.html?nav=rss_email/components