Washington, DC – Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) has released a statement following the announcement that Dubai Port World (DPW) is transferring control of management operations for ports in the U.S. to an American based entity:
“This is a step in the right direction, but we do need to continue to examine how we got here in the first place. While I supported the 45-day review of the DPW deal and reserved final judgment until the review had been completed, it is critical that
I want to ensure that that similar deals in the future are subject to the appropriate and required Congressional review before it is approved by the Administration.
The foreign government in question, that owns DP World, is the government of Dubai, part of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While UAE is an ally in the war on terrorism, it also has been used as a base of terrorist operations and financing. In fact, the 9/11 Commission reported that UAE was “both a valued counterterrorism ally of the United States and a persistent counterterrorism problem.” The attacks of 9/11 were planned in part in the UAE, and much of the financing for those operations was funneled through the UAE banking system. The facts warrant a thorough 45-day investigation by CFIUS, not a cursory review.