| Submit your comments on this article |
| China-Japan-Koreas |
| U.S. Hiring PLA Subsidiary Hutchinson-Whampoa to Scan Nukes |
| 2006-03-24 |
| In the aftermath of the Dubai ports dispute, the Bush administration is hiring a Hong Kong conglomerate to help detect nuclear materials inside cargo passing through the Bahamas to the United States and elsewhere. The administration acknowledges the no-bid contract with Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. represents the first time a foreign company will be involved in running a sophisticated U.S. radiation detector at an overseas port without American customs agents present. Apparently al-Qaeda couldn't guarantee the bid specifications in time. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #8 maybe Bahamas should take a year off from US tourism/shipping? Letting the bitch know who calls the shots is worthwhile sometimes |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-03-24 21:48 |
| #7 Any positive reading would set off alarms I'd want redundant systems, redundant redundant systems and redundant backup systems aplenty, what good is a system if the signal doesn't get through. Six or so lines which also carry a carrier wave system so any interruptions are instantly noticed should be considered an absolute minimum. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2006-03-24 20:27 |
| #6 Article: "It's their country, their port. The driver of the mobile carrier is the contractor selected by their government. We had no say or no choice," he said. And they're our imports. If the Bahamian government doesn't feel like having US customs select the contractor (thanks to pay-offs from Hutchison Whampoa for a no-bid contract) or having US customs agents (who are less susceptible to bribery than their Bahamian counterparts) look over the whole process, Uncle Sam can ban cargo coming through the Bahamas. I guess that would make their port facilities useless, wouldn't it? |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2006-03-24 20:10 |
| #5 You didn't think all that pretty posing was going to be free did 'ya? We got the proofs, the negatives are going to be pricey. |
| Posted by: 6 2006-03-24 17:08 |
| #4 Maybe more or less to this than meets the eye: Supervised by Bahamian customs officials, Hutchison employees will drive the towering, truck-like radiation scanner that moves slowly over large cargo containers and scans them for radiation that might be emitted by plutonium or a radiological weapon. Any positive reading would set off alarms monitored simultaneously by Bahamian customs inspectors at Freeport and by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials working at an anti-terrorism center 800 miles away in northern Virginia. Any alarm would prompt a closer inspection of the cargo, and there are multiple layers of security to prevent tampering, officials said. "The equipment operates itself," said Bryan Wilkes, a spokesman for the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration, the agency negotiating the contract. "It's not going to be someone standing at the controls pressing buttons and flipping switches." There are no U.S. customs agents checking any cargo containers at the Hutchison port in Freeport. Under the contract, no U.S. officials would be stationed permanently in the Bahamas with the radiation scanner. Hutchison operates the sprawling Freeport Container Port on Grand Bahama Island. Its subsidiary, Hutchison Port Holdings, has operations in more than 20 countries but none in the United States. Contract documents obtained by AP indicate Hutchison will be paid roughly $6 million. The contract is for one year with options for three years. The National Nuclear Security Administration, which is an Energy Department agency tasked with strengthening nuclear security worldwide, is negotiating the Bahamas contract under a $121 million program it calls the "second line of defense." Wilkes, the NNSA spokesman, said the Bahamian government dictated that the U.S. give the contract to Hutchison. "It's their country, their port. The driver of the mobile carrier is the contractor selected by their government. We had no say or no choice," he said. "We are fortunate to have allies who are signing these agreements with us." In a nutshell, it's a Bahamian port operated by a chinese firm. Bahamian government insisted the port operator do the scanning. I'll wager there was a "take it or leave it" implied. |
| Posted by: Steve 2006-03-24 13:34 |
| #3 D: Don't get me wrong, native people from Hong Kong are great, especially those who were not thrilled about having their country managed from Beijing, but I am more worried about the staff imports from China; their allegiance is more worthy of concern. Li Ka-shing was born in Shanghai. The vast majority of his extensive business interests are in China. I wouldn't trust any Taiwanese company either, because the same applies to many Taiwanese companies. The fact is that we need Americans vetting these installations. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2006-03-24 12:57 |
| #2 After seeing this story, my first thought was, for poetic justice, why did our government go with a Taiwanese company? This would have shaken things up a bit. I suspect that a Taiwanese firm would have been less of a threat for present and future. Don't get me wrong, native people from Hong Kong are great, especially those who were not thrilled about having their country managed from Beijing, but I am more worried about the staff imports from China; their allegiance is more worthy of concern. The U.S. may be a Diplomatic and Business player with China, but China military is a potential threat to the U.S. mainland either themselves or via a proxy 3rd party country that shares the same land mass as the U.S. |
| Posted by: Delphi2005 2006-03-24 12:13 |
| #1 Some parts of the Federal bureaucracy appear to be operating with a September 10 mindset. The fact that their jobs are protected by union rules probably contributes to that mindset. If another September 11-type incident occurs, some of these people need to be given life sentences for negligent homicide. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2006-03-24 01:14 |