The Assertion The Dubai Co. Would Not Be In Charge Of Security Is FALSE!

[KittyWampus]

from NYTimes editorial written by Clark Ervin, inspector general of Homeland Security Dept 03-04:

"true... Customs officers would .. do any inspection of cargo containers & Coast Guard would remain "in charge" of port security. But, again, very few cargo inspections are conducted. 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.

[Coexist]

1. My question from another thread - please help me answer it.

Question: One of the things that struck me yesterday about the port deal

is that all the Coast Guard and Military talking heads were discussing how they have a "system" for looking at a listing of all containers and their contents coming in and gaging which ones to search.

Who makes the list? Would that be the company from the UAE? If someone else makes the list, would the UAE company have the ability to alter it? Is it in their possession at any time?

I mean, if "the list" is how we determine what to search, shouldn't the main component of our security be the list-maker, and not just what decisions we make from the contents of that document?

[KittyWampus]

3. Don't know who CHECKS the list- but really, considering only 5% gets

checked in real world... it's all meaningless.

But that is an outstanding question!

[Coexist]

4. the Coast Guard checks the list to determine what will be searched

but I don't get who makes and oversees the list.

[Coexist]

5. Just found the answer:

Second, the "Port Service Company" frequently prepares the manifest. This is the legal document ennumerating what the ship is carrying, shipper, recipient, port on loaded, port to be off loaded. This guides (or misguides) the inspection.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=481615&mesg_id=481615

and I READ that post a couple of times yesterday... sorry.

[northzax]

16. yes, the port service company

at the port of orignation, not the port of destination.

[fasttense]

6. The list is defined by the coast guard

A coastie posted here yesterday and said they have specific criteria for containers to be searched and port operations identifies these containers. But some containers with manifest indicating routine supplies are never searched. If the manifest is somehow fraudulent, the coast guard would never know. Guess who prepares the manifests - port operations.

[Coexist]

7. Exactly my point - even Tom Ridge agrees:

so the question should be - do we trust those who create/handle/have the ability to alter the manifest - and would UAE be those people? It would seem that they are. So we are only as secure as their least secure employee in that department?

Another issue I have is that the terrorists that are out there now are pretty much "new" to the field. Most have been created in the last couple of years - so background screenings would not really be effective in ferreting them out - right?? They could have been a moderate pharmacist until quite recently.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11499978/

RIDGE: The last statistic, there were five to six percent of them are checked, but it‘s not a random selection process, Chris. Because of the information that customs has secured over the years and Coast Guard, we score every container because we require the shipping companies to send the manifest to us 24 hours in advance.

We match all that information against the database we have, and if we don‘t like the answers, if it doesn‘t score correctly, then we run it through an x-ray machine. If we don‘t like what we see, then we open the actual container itself. And that‘s done so that we make our ports the last live of defense. All that‘s done under the Container Security Initiative in foreign ports overseas.

[northzax]

15. it comes from the manifests

created at the originating port, not the destination one.

[Coexist]

17. who handles the manifests? Can they be altered while in transit

from originating port and destination.

They must change hands at least once.

[northzax]

18. sure, I guess

since they are electronically sent from one port to another, the destination port could I guess, intercept them before they get to the Coast Guard and fake them, but why? wouldn't it be a lot easier to do that on the other end, in say, Dubai, than in Baltimore?

[liberal N proud]

2. Just like everything said by the bu$h regime - They can not tell the truth

It is mentally impossible for the bu$h regime to give the American people the truth.

[KittyWampus]

8. kick

[converted_democrat]

9. K&R.. Thanks for posting..n/t

[blm]

10. Good to see it - Clark Kent Ervin is a good man.

.

[robbedvoter]

11. Hey, better than union jobs any day! Remember the GOP outcry

over the requirement of having Federal employees in airports after 911? "You liberals just want more union jobs" they said.
And, blessed them, they came with the perfect solution: outsource security to the terrorists themselves! Kinda elegant if you ask me.

[Twist_U_Up]

12. but but but...........

We have DU members with low post counts vehemently telling us to trust them that this company won't be in control of security.


so quick on the gun they are, I tend to wonder where they get their talking points from.

[jasmeel]

13. I was pissed to see this myth upheld by The Daily Show last

night. Stewart basically said the Coast Guard would still be in charge of security. He did mention that security only consists of checking 5% of the cargo that comes through anyway.

[Pachamama]

14. I was watching Alberto Gonzales on CNBC stating that there is no security

risk and that the management of the port doesn't affect the port security...

BULLSHIT! If anybody, and I mean anybody, believes that, they are dumber than a doornail!

That statement alone, and someone using their brain and having a few neurons firing can figure out that anyone involved in the decisions around the management of a port have an impact on the security of it!

Uneffing believable!

WAKE UP AMERICA! These people who "claim" to be looking out for your safety and security are the "Threat"!

[KittyWampus]

19. Thus, the handing UAE management of US ports COULD effect our

National Security and thus, an investigation SHOULD have been undergone beforehand as required by law.

Senator Levin making this point now.

[nicknameless]

20. Compromising security of US coasts?

On the Blue States & Red States map, coastal areas are overwhelmingly blue.
... Maybe not a motive, but certainly a bonus for the rethugs who came up with this nefarious deal.

[Wilms]

21. K&R n/t