Lawmakers Deride Assurances on Arab Port Firm

Washington Post: "Lawmakers from both parties are questioning the sale as a possible risk to national security.

'It's unbelievably tone deaf politically at this point in our history,' Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said on 'Fox News Sunday.'

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), on CBS's 'Face the Nation,' said, 'It is ridiculous to say you're taking secret steps to make sure that it's okay for a nation that had ties to 9/11, [to] take over part of our port operations in many of our largest ports. This has to stop.'

At least one Senate oversight hearing is planned for later this month.

Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), who is working on legislation to prohibit companies owned or controlled by foreign governments from running port operations in the United States, said Chertoff's comments showed him that the administration 'just does not get it.'"