U.S. should be concerned that UNCLOS would give U.N. a greater license for theft and corruption

Worries about the sorts of decisions UN bureaucrats might make that could harm American environmental and other equities have only been heightened by recent press accounts. According to successive investigative reports in the Wall Street Journal, there is evidence of systemic corruption and malfeasance on the part of senior UN personnel – and, in the case of the Secretary General, one of his relatives – in connection with the Iraq Oil-for-Food programs. The House International Relations Committee has announced its intention to investigate this evidence. The Senate would be well-advised to conduct its own inquiry.

At the very least, I would respectfully submit that Senators cannot responsibly act on the Law of the Sea Treaty until they can satisfy their constituents that turning over to a new UN bureaucracy the authority to make decisions about and generate revenues from what could be billions of dollars worth of ocean-related commerce will not amount – literally – to a license to steal on an unprecedented scale.