Congeries of cross connected concepts
I haven’t commented at all on the Dubai Port controversy, because I don’t have a strong opinion on it. Both sides have valid points along with the flamers (while some of the critics were being bigotted, it’s hardly the case that every critic was and blanket accusations of bigotry doesn’t install confidence in the validity of the people hurling those accusations).
Ultimately, however, I am convinced that the deal won’t make much difference in terms of security. I understand the view that even though the system is broken, we shouldn’t make it more broken, but it seems to me that if our enemies have to engage in this kind of massive and indirect effort to get access to data on how security is run in our ports, we’re so far ahead it doesn’t matter. Speaking in my role as a person who works in the network security field, I can say that very few penetrations are from any sort of elaborate plot like this, because it’s so much easier to buy a new car for some financially troubled flunky. It’s almost always a single or small group of employees being greedy or stupid.
What I do think, however, is that this is another Patriot Act, i.e. an opportunity for all sides to posture over something that isn’t going to make any real difference. While the Repubicans in Congress are not being slouches at this, it is the Democratic Party that is way out in front on this, having spent years denying our state of war and profiling, they are now engaging in both.
I also agree that the public support for restricting the sale, while somewhat irrational, is the result of the obviously pro forma efforts of the Bush Administration on domestic security. One can only go to the “trust us” well so many times before it has to be refilled with actual results.
Despite that, I expect that this will end up being like most other Bush related “scandals” where it drags on for years inside the Beltway but rapidly passes from the attention of the citizenry. Two or three months from now no one who isn’t a rapid partisan or political obsessive will remember anything about this issue.
