Pentagon, Homeland Dept. objected to UAE port deal

Insight:

"At least three security agencies raised objections to a takeover by a United Arab Emirates state-owned company of the operations of six major U.S. ports.

Congressional sources said the Defense Department, Homeland Security Department and Coast Guard expressed objections during the review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States of the state-owned Dubai Ports World, which bought the British-owned Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co. P&O has managed port operations in New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, Miami, Philadelphia and New Orleans.

'All of the rules were bent on this one,' a congressional source said. 'We had a major security review managed by political appointees.'

But most of the objections were not recorded in the proceedings of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), the sources said. They said the objections remained off the record for 'technical reasons.' Later, the heads of some of the agencies denied that their representatives raised concerns."