U.S. Port Deal With Arab Country Increases Risk of Nuclear Terrorism, Warns Author of "King of Bombs"

The author of a controversial novel about nuclear terrorism, Sheldon Filger, warned that the Bush administration's approval of the sale of London-based Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navagation to Dubai Ports Worldwide, a state-owned company based in the United Arab Emirates, increases the U.S. vulnerability to a future terrorist attack involving WMD. In Filger's novel, "King of Bombs," lax port security is tied in with terrorist plans to smuggle a nuclear weapon into a major American city.

"The deal approved by the Bush administration will leave the management of the shipping terminals of the 6 most important American ports on the Eastern seaboard in the hands of a company tied directly to Dubai," Filger said. "According to information that emerged after 9/11, financial support for the September 11 Al-Qaeda hijackers passed through Dubai. Even more disturbing, in the context of this company managing the ports and their security, is that the A.Q. Khan nuclear weapons black market operation used Dubai as a major center for smuggling nuclear contraband to North Korea, Iran and Libya. Given these facts, it seems highly irresponsible, at the very least, to have that counrty manage these vital ports, all adjacent to major urban centers," Mr. Filger added.

In researching the threat of nuclear terrorism for his book, "King of Bombs," Sheldon Filger came across information that underlines American ports as the most striking vulnerability to a future terrorist attack involving WMD. "Only about 4% of all shipping containers that are unloaded at U.S. ports are subjected to physical inspection," Filger said. "Security is already insufficient to deal with the growing threat of nuclear terrorism. By outsourcing the security of major ports, including New York and Baltimore, to an Arab country where Al-Qaeda has a presence and where nuclear smuggling has previously occured, is to invite an unacceptible degree of danger of a future Al-Qaeda attack on America involving, in a worst case scenario, nuclear wepaons," the author of "King of Bombs" warned.