Port deal may be reviewed

WASHINGTON — The Homeland Security Department objected at first to a United Arab Emirates company's taking over some terminals at six U.S. ports. It was the lone protest among members of the government committee that eventually approved the deal without dissent.

The department's early objections were settled later in the government's review of the $6.8 billion deal after Dubai-owned Dubai Ports World agreed to a series of security restrictions.

The Bush administration, meanwhile, was negotiating Saturday with Dubai Ports World on whether to reopen an investigation into possible security concerns, according to a senior administration official.

If a deal is reached, it would mark a significant concession by the White House, which as recently as Friday said the review was completed in January and could not be reopened.

But officials of Dubai Ports World were apparently becoming convinced they could not quiet the controversy unless a full 45-day review was completed. At the end of that review, results would be given to President Bush, who would make a decision and report to Congress, said the official, who declined to be identified.

Bush has said repeatedly that he was convinced there would be no security threat if the company took over some terminals at the six ports. But neither his assurances nor an offer from the company Thursday to delay taking over management of the terminals appeared to sway the critics.

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said he would need to see all the details of a compromise before deciding if it met all of his concerns and that of other congressional critics.

The president has defended his administration's approval of the ports deal and threatened to veto any measures in Congress that would block it.

Under the deal, Dubai Ports World is acquiring Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation, a British company that has managed port terminals in New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Md., Miami and New Orleans. The transaction is part of a $6.8 billion deal.

The company declined Saturday to discuss any potential compromise.

The administration approved the ports deal Jan. 17 after Dubai Ports World agreed during secret negotiations to cooperate with law-enforcement investigations in the future and make other concessions.

Deal questioned

Some lawmakers have challenged the adequacy of a classified intelligence assessment crucial to assuring the administration that the deal was proper. The report was assembled in November by analysts working for the director of national intelligence.

The report concluded that U.S. spy agencies were "unable to locate any derogatory information on the company," according to a person familiar with the document, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and others have complained that the intelligence report focused only on information the agencies collected about Dubai Ports World and did not examine reported links between UAE government officials and al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The uproar has exposed how the government routinely approves deals involving national security without the input of senior administration officials or Congress.

Officials unaware

Bush, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and even Treasury Secretary John Snow, who oversees the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States that approved the deal, all say they did not know about the purchase until after it was finalized.

Snow now says he may consider changes so lawmakers are better alerted after such deals get the go-ahead.

Stewart Baker, a senior Homeland Security official, said he was the sole representative on the panel who objected to the ports deal. Baker said he later changed his vote after Dubai Ports World agreed to the security conditions. Others confirmed his account.

"We were not prepared to sign off on the deal without the successful negotiation of the assurances," Baker said.

Baker acknowledged that a government audit of security practices at the U.S. ports in the takeover has not been completed as part of the deal.

The audit will help evaluate Dubai Port World's security programs to stop smuggling and detect illegal shipments of nuclear materials at the six U.S. ports.

The administration privately disclosed the status of the security audit to senators during meetings about improving reviews of future business deals involving foreign buyers. Officials did not suggest the audit's earlier completion would have affected the deal's approval.

Gov. Jon Corzine of New Jersey, one of the lawmakers seeking to block the company, dismissed suggestions that anti-Arab bias or racial profiling lay behind the opposition.

"Dubai is not Britain," Corzine said. "And the fact of the matter is that port security does not begin and end at the pier in Newark."