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The American people have every right to be outraged with the administration's approval of the UAE port deal. It is time the people's House make the security of our Nation's ports a priority.

One of the most widespread myths about the deal is that the Administration is outsourcing the security of our ports to a company from the United Arab Emirates.

Port Security is one of our weakest security links, and it must be one of our highest priorities.

While port security remains one of our single greatest vulnerabilities, it makes little sense to give operational control of our ports to a foreign nation without first doing proper investigations.

And let us be frank, the security threats that emanate from our ports come from foreign cargo.

We know that the most fundamental responsibility of our Federal Government is to ensure the safety of its people and to protect and ensure our National security. And clearly port security has been left in limbo.

Our ports are owned by local governments who are responsible for the ports. It is the Coast Guard and Customs that provide security. The federal government will never outsource our security.

Our ports and our borders are the most unprotected fronts in the war on terror.

In South Texas, we understand how vital port security is and we fear the day a weapon of mass destruction could be brought into a U.S. port in a container and cause hundreds of thousands of casualties.