The Danes Are Coming!

I've been following the furor surrounding the purchase of US port management by a company owned by the government of Dubai. I admit to being a little mystified. Folks must be getting upset because the ... Dubaiians? Dubia? Dubians? anyway, because they're muslims.

Just like Rising Sun, I think this drama completely misses the point. We shouldn't be asking ourselves whether a Middle Eastern company has the right to manage some of the United State's largest ports, we should be asking ourselves why the government contracts out port management and inspections in the first place.

This isn't the only case of the government's outsourcing control of critical elements of our infrastructure. Take the Wackenhut Corporation. Who, you ask? The Wackenhut Corporation is the american subsidiary of Group 4 Securicor, the second largest security company in the world.

Group 4 Securicor is a Danish company (Denmark has 270,000 muslims) that is based in England (1.6 million muslims). They hire American citizens of all backgrounds (America has 7 million muslims). Wackenhut is a large private security and investigation company. They've got many contracts with different levels of the US government: they secure transportation hubs, ROTC bases, schools and other government buildings and every nuclear facility in the United States.

Now, I know some people who work for Wackenhut. They seem honest enough; in fact, many are ex-US military. I'm sure they do a fine job doing what they do and the facilities they guard are appropriately secure. (And they're not the only contractor providing security services to the US government - check out the competition.)

What does this have to do with the people of Dubai and US port authority?

One of the basic responsibilities of the federal government is to provide for the protection and maintenance of its facilities, borders and arsenals. Frankly, the fact that Party of National Defence surrendered the US Government's monopoly over armed force is an irony that I do not enjoy.

Not that I doubt the good will of Mike Chertoff and the boys over in the Department of Homeland Security, but unfortunately we've got rent-a-cops running half of the show. I feel like a Dane watching Fortinbras march up. Where's Jack Bauer when you need him?