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King eyes deal on port safety

BY GLENN THRUSH AND CRAIG GORDON | NEWSDAY WASHINGTON BUREAU

March 7, 2006

WASHINGTON - House Homeland Security Chairman Peter King (R-Seaford) says President George W. Bush can dodge defeat on the Dubai ports deal only by backing the creation of a U.S. subsidiary to keep the United Arab Emirates from directly controlling U.S. shipping terminals.

White House officials said last night they welcomed King's efforts to find a way to satisfy congressional critics of the deal, but said it was up to the UAE-owned Dubai Ports World to decide how to proceed.

King, who pitched the idea to Bush administration officials on Capitol Hill last week, says the state-owned company needs to restructure its $6.8 billion contract radically to keep sensitive logistical, security and financial information from being transferred to the emirates, home of two 9/11 hijackers. "This is the only way out; I don't see any other way out of this, apart from killing the contract or [the Congress] caving in," said King, who has spearheaded GOP opposition to the plan.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who heads the Senate's homeland security committee, is pushing her own plan to boost port spending by $835 million and to transfer decision making on future deals from the Treasury Department to the Department of Homeland Security.

White House spokesman Ken Lisaius said, "We understand that the company continues to listen to the concerns of Congress. We ... welcome such an ongoing dialogue. Representative King is someone we have certainly worked with on these types of matters ... "

The idea of creating an American subsidiary was met with skepticism by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who asked, "Will it be a real wall or one that the leaders of the UAE can breach?"

DP World's chief executive Mohammed Sharaf seemed to dismiss the suggestion yesterday, telling CNN's "Late Edition" that his company didn't need any more American partners than it already has.