Carl Levin was direct and to the point this morning when a few key Senators were allowed to be briefed by Bush Administration officials:

Sen. Carl Levin, the senior Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, angrily accused the administration of ignoring the law by failing to launch more than a routine investigation.

Clashing with a Treasury Department official,  Levin said the law has language specifically requiring a longer review than the one that an interagency committee conducted, if a business deal could affect national security.

"Is there not one agency in this government that believes this takeover could affect the national security of the United States?" the Michigan Democrat asked. Chairman John Warner, R-Va., in a very unusual procedure on Capitol Hill, allowed reporters to question the administration witnesses.

As usual, those in authoritative positions were represented by their underlings in an apparent effort to shield higher-ups from interrogation, scrutiny, or accountability.

Representatives of key agencies that investigated the matter -- but not the heads of the departments involved -- sought to reassure senators just hours after President Bush declared that "people don't need to worry about security."

How much clearer can Levin make it?

"What is deeply troubling to me about this proposed sale is the combination of one of America's vulnerabilities to terrorist attack, our ports, with what appears to me to be a casual approach to reviewing the sale of US port facilities to a country with an uneven record of combating terrorism," Senator Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, told the briefing.

Others objected as well, including John Warner.