Government officials broke the law when they agreed to let a United Arab Emirates-owned company operate terminals at major American ports without doing a more extended review of the national security implications, U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby told the Birmingham (Alabama) News in Friday editions. (Excerpted here because page is information restricted).
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"It's my interpretation that the Byrd Amendment is pretty clear, that if you look at the legislative history, they certainly didn't follow the law that I thought they should have," Shelby, R-Ala., said in an interview after a congressional hearing on the Dubai Ports World deal. He referred to the 1992 law that requires extra national security review of some foreign investments.
Shelby and others are planning legislation to tighten the government's review of major foreign investments in the United States by giving Congress more notice of the transactions before they are complete.
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Criticism of the Bush administration's approval of an Arab state-owned company's purchase of a London port-management firm has been severe from Republicans and Democrats alike.
The critics argue the decision put economic considerations ahead of security.
The U.S. government's formal review lasted about 30 days, and the deal was approved once the relevant agencies determined there was no risk to national security. A second, more detailed 45-day investigation was skipped.
Government officials broke the law when they agreed to let a United Arab Emirates-owned company operate terminals at major American ports without doing a more extended review of the national security implications, U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby told the Birmingham (Alabama) News in Friday editions. (Excerpted here because page is information restricted).