William Cohen News

The California State University Board of Trustees has named Thomas A. Cropper, Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy, as president of California Maritime Academy. "I am pleased and honored to be chosen as the next president of the California Maritime Academy, and look forward to working closely with the exceptional students, staff and faculty," said Cropper. Cropper was among the finalists for the position to succeed retiring President William B. Eisenhardt, who has served as president since 2001. He is expected to begin in his new role as president on July 1 following retirement from active duty.

The U.S. Navy guided-missile cruiser Chancellorsville will visit Qingdao, China, in August as part of a series of such visits between the two countries, the Defense Department said. The announcement of the Aug. 2-5 visit followed a statement by Washington and Beijing that Chinese warships will soon visit Hawaii and Seattle. Defense Secretary William Cohen visited China this month as the two countries renewed military-to-military ties following a freeze after the 1999 bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade by U.S. warplanes during NATO's air campaign against Serbia. The Pentagon said the visit by the Chancellorsville, based in Yokosuka, Japan, to Qingdao will coincide with a July 31-Aug. 5 visit to Beijing and Qingdao by Adm. Thomas Fargo, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet.

The officer who commanded the USS Cole when it was attacked in Yemen in 2000 will not be promoted because he did not meet the standards expected of commanding officers, the U.S. Navy said on Monday. Almost six years after the al Qaeda attack that killed 17 sailors while the American destroyer was refueling, Navy Secretary Donald Winter pulled Cmdr. Kirk Lippold off a promotion list, saying he was not qualified to rise to the rank of captain, the Navy said in a statement. Secretary Winter determined that CDR Lippold's actions as the Commanding Officer of USS COLE prior to the attack on October 12, 2000 did not meet the high standard he expects of Commanding Officers, and, based on this, CDR Lippold was not the best and fully qualified for promotion to the higher grade, the Navy said.

Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. rejected allegations made by a U.S. senator that it controlled both ends of the Panama Canal, saying it had no influence over the canal’s operation or shipping traffic. “What has been alleged about is totally untrue and unfounded,” said Nora Yong, spokeswoman for Hutchison Port Holdings. The Hong Kong-based company also denied the senator’s allegations it was connected to China’s military. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, a Mississippi Republican, last week released a letter sent Aug. 1 to U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen complaining that Hutchison’s operation of container ports at each end of the canal was a security threat and a sign of China’s growing influence over the strategically important waterway.

Tensions surrounding the turnover of the Panama Canal from U.S. to Panamanian authority are running high. Last week, Hong Kong-based billionaire Li Ka-Shing said he had no intention of taking control of the Panama Canal, as suggested by some U.S. lawmakers. Li was responding for the first time personally to charges by U.S. Senate Majority leader Trent Lott (R-Miss) that his company, Hutchison Whampoa Ltd., could put a strangle-hold on the strategic waterway. "I have no intention to control the Panama Canal," Li said. The U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee is expected soon to discuss the right of a Hutchison subsidiary to run two container ports at the Atlantic and Pacific entrances of the canal.