Assemblywoman Linda Stender

STENDER: PORTS DEAL EXPOSES ADMINISTATION'S 'SELECTIVE AMNESIA' ABOUT LESSONS OF 9/11

(TRENTON) - Assemblywoman Linda Stender today addressed a special meeting of the Assembly Homeland Security and State Preparedness Committee, urging the panel to ensure that Washington hears loud and clear New Jersey's objections to the proposed sale of major port operations to a company owned by the United Arab Emirates.

For Release:
February 27, 2006

Assemblywoman Linda Stender
Deputy Speaker
(908) 668-1900

STENDER: PORTS DEAL EXPOSES ADMINISTATION'S 'SELECTIVE AMNESIA' ABOUT LESSONS OF 9/11

(TRENTON) - Assemblywoman Linda Stender today addressed a special meeting of the Assembly Homeland Security and State Preparedness Committee, urging the panel to ensure that Washington hears loud and clear New Jersey's objections to the proposed sale of major port operations to a company owned by the United Arab Emirates.

"This port deal is not simply a case of bad communication or imperious conduct by the White House," said Stender (D-Union). "It is an alarming instance of selective amnesia about the lessons of 9/11. As far as security is concerned, there is no place for complacency."

Stender is sponsoring legislation (AR-138) with Assemblymen Albio Sires (D-Hudson) and Assemblyman John Burzichelli (D-Gloucester) that would put the General Assembly on the record in joining the wave of national sentiment against the Bush Administration's decision to outsource some East Coast port operations to Dubai Ports World.

--A copy of Assemblywoman Stender's remarks are attached--

Assemblywoman Linda Stender
Assembly Homeland Security and State Preparedness Committee
February 27, 2006

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I want to thank you - and all of your fellow members on this committee - for allowing me to be a part of today's proceedings.

I also wish to express my thanks to Speaker Joe Roberts for facilitating such expedited committee consideration of this port security issue.

I cannot stress enough how important this committee meeting is.

The 9/11 Commission's report spelled out in the clearest of terms how our port terminals are among this nation's greatest areas of vulnerability.

The 9/11 Commission reported that we currently inspect a little more than five percent of the cargo entering this country.

While we may do a better job of inspecting cargo at various ports around the globe before it actually comes to our country, the fact is enormous holes remain in the cargo inspection system.

There is screening technology we don't employ - even though it is available.

Meanwhile, world trade grows and grows. There is the constant economic drive to increase the traffic of cargo moving in and out of ports.

More cargo means more risks.

Finally, there is a new threat to port security: government complacency.

That is what is unsettling about the way the White House has handled this issue.

It has become terminally indifferent to port states like New Jersey.

There is mindset in the White House that only they should decide whether this port deal is - or is not - in our best interest.

This port deal is not simply a case of bad communication or imperious conduct by the White House.

It is an alarming instance of selective amnesia about the lessons of 9/11.

Madam Chair, our cargo terminals are not just a security challenge - they are an economic necessity.

In the region of the state that I represent, thousands of people and businesses depend on the ports for their livelihoods.

We can't simply be left with nothing but a vague sense of hope that all will turn out fine if we allow this deal to move forward.

Virgil's epic of the Trojan Horse makes for an instructive analogy.

Who can say that some future, non-descript container ship coming into one of these terminals won't contain an unsuspecting but lethal cargo?

Who can say that lethal cargo won't devastate our port facilities and our economy the same way the hidden contents of the mythical Trojan Horse laid waste to Troy?

Who can say that we - especially after 9/11 - won't see it coming?

All literary references aside, the real question that needs to be asked about the Dubai Ports World deal is this: Would this deal make our cargo terminals more secure or would it make them less secure?

I don't see how anyone can say anything but the latter.

After all, who can give any real assurance that Al-Qaeda hasn't already infiltrated this company in some manner?

Indeed, has the secrecy enshrouding the approval of this ports deal impeded Al-Qaeda or abetted it?

I realize and appreciate that both Governor Corzine and the Port Authority have initiated steps to halt the Dubai Ports World's takeover.

I also recognize that the shipping terminal company has offered to submit to a second federal review of potential security risks in the deal.

But the inescapable fact of the matter is that we shouldn't be in this situation to begin with.

That is the lesson of this ports deal.

We not only need to stop it this time, but we need to make sure that laws are put in place to make such unilateral federal deal making impossible in the future.

That is the reason behind the legislation that I have crafted in the wake of the Dubai Ports World revelations.

The measure you have on your agenda would enable the entire General Assembly to go on record demanding that President Bush reconsider his administration's decision to outsource port operations to a company owned by a foreign government.

I urge its release.

But there is another measure, not on your agenda today, I hope you will consider in the future.

This bill, A-2702, would expressly require that all terminal-operation contracts with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey have a provision to require the Port Authority's prior written consent before a terminal-operation contract could be passed to another company.

The measure also would require that shipping contracts with the Port Authority allow that agency to conduct its own independent investigations of contract transferees before any contract ownership transfers could take place.

One of the most alarming aspects of the Dubai Ports World matter has been the overwhelming secrecy of the federal government's decision-making and review process before approval was granted.

The state was kept out of the loop.

The Port Authority was kept out of the loop.

And the public was kept out of the loop.

In fact, it is my understanding that the Port Authority found out about this deal when they read about it in the New York Times.

This measure would help ensure that our security interests are not compromised.

It would prevent the fate of our shipping terminals from being decided unilaterally by the federal government.

Madam Chair, before I close my remarks, I urge you to consider a good old American adage that I think applies here with the ports deal and the ongoing war against global terrorism.

"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

As far as security is concerned, there is no place for complacency.

We simply can't afford ourselves to be fooled again.