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.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
And let us be frank, the security threats that emanate from our ports come from foreign cargo.
Our ports and our borders are the most unprotected fronts in the war on terror.
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 a vital link in national security and it is extremely dangerous to be considering their sale to the United Arab Emirates government.
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.
Today, barely 5 percent of all containers coming into the United States through our ports are scanned.
We need to have a strong defense focused on areas that are in the greatest vulnerability. I have been very concerned about America's 361 seaports as a point in which terrorist activities and materials could be brought into the country.
Ports are the gaping hole in America's homeland security.
A ship in port is safe, but that's not what ships are built for.