Lawmaker Seeks Citizenship Rule at U.S. Ports

A New Jersey congressman said Saturday that he wanted to require that security officials at U.S. ports be American citizens to prevent overseas companies operating shipping facilities here from hiring foreigners in such sensitive positions.

Republican Frank A. LoBiondo, chairman of the Coast Guard and maritime transportation subcommittee, cited “significant” security concerns over a $6.8-billion sale that gave a company in the United Arab Emirates control over operations at six major American ports.

LoBiondo said he wanted the new mandatory citizenship requirements approved by Congress and President Bush before state-owned Dubai Ports World completed its pending purchase of London-based Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co.

The British company, the world’s fourth-largest ports company, runs major commercial operations at shipping terminals in New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia.

The Bush administration earlier approved the deal, which has drawn escalating criticism by lawmakers who maintain the United Arab Emirates is not consistent in its support of U.S. terrorism-fighting efforts.

Caught by surprise over the breadth of concerns expressed in the United States, Dubai Ports World is cautiously organizing its response. The company dispatched advisors to reassure port officials along the East Coast, and its chief operating officer -- U.S. shipping executive Edward H. “Ted” Bilkey -- was expected to travel to Washington soon for meetings on Capitol Hill and elsewhere.

President Bush visited the port in Tampa, Fla., on Friday, but did not mention the dispute. But Mayor Martin O’Malley of Baltimore criticized Bush’s approval of the ports deal as an “outrageous, reckless and irresponsible decision” and urged the president to reconsider.

O’Malley is co-chairman of the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ Task Force on Homeland Security. “I think they did not take into account the vulnerability of America’s ports,” he said Saturday in a phone interview. “I think Congress needs to have further hearings on these things.”