Pilot sues agencies after he is deemed a security threat

Robert William Gray, a British citizen living in West Yarmouth, has been flying small planes for Cape Air for four years. He has even ferried US Representative William Delahunt and Senator Edward M. Kennedy on some of his trips, according to his lawyer.

Yet when the 34-year-old pilot sought permission last fall from the Transportation Security Administration to take flight training courses so he could fly larger planes, the agency denied his request, saying he poses a ''threat to aviation or national security."

The agency refused to tell Gray why. He was told only that the decision was based on derogatory information that the agency would not disclose because it was classified.

Stung by the allegations, Gray filed a federal lawsuit in Boston last week against the TSA and the Department of Homeland Security, saying he thinks he is a victim of mistaken identity and wants the chance to clear his name.

''This is a fairness case where the government is relying on secret accusations," said Sarah Wunsch, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, who is helping to represent Gray. ''We have no idea what they're accusing him of, and it could be that they have the wrong person."

Wunsch said there are pilots from other states who believe they have been unfairly denied flight training for larger planes, but have opted not to pursue legal action because they fear retaliation.

Since terrorists commandeered commercial jets in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon, the government has scrutinized all non-US citizens who apply for flight training. The TSA has to approve every request.

In Gray's case, the TSA did not explain the reason for his rejection, but his suit contends the agency did provide a computer printout from a US Customs computer that indicated Gray was Hispanic. Gray, born in Belfast, is white.

''He's a very qualified pilot, and we're happy to have him in our Cape Air family," said Michelle Haynes, director of communications for Cape Air. She said the government is on the wrong track if it thinks Gray is Hispanic: ''He's as Irish as St. Patrick."

Ann Davis, a TSA spokeswoman, said she could not comment on Gray's case, but added that since October the agency has conducted security assessments of all non-US citizens seeking flight training for aircraft weighing more than 12,500 pounds.

''Obviously, the program was designed to prevent terrorists or other individuals who pose a threat to aviation or national security from receiving flight training," said Davis, noting that the TSA has the right not to disclose the reasons for its denial of any application.

She said that the TSA queries numerous federal law enforcement and intelligence databases when conducting security assessments on applicants and is not allowed to reveal information that was created by other sources.

Reginald Shuford, a senior staff attorney for the ACLU in Washington who unsuccessfully challenged the constitutionality of the federal ''no-fly" list in a class-action suit last year, said Gray's case is emblematic of the security climate since the Sept. 11 attacks, where law-abiding people can encounter problems when their names appear on government lists or databases that are prone to inaccuracies.

''There's this whole wall of secrecy that the government hides behind, saying ostensibly to disclose information would undermine national security," Shuford said. ''So on the one hand they're going to do all these things that are unprecedented in our history, and on the other hand they're keeping us in the dark about it."

Gray, who has lived in the United States since 1993, has been flying small commercial planes since 1997. He had a job offer from a charter company to fly larger planes that was contingent on the TSA's approval of his request for training, according to his suit.

When the TSA rejected the request, the agency also sent notice of the denial to Cape Air and the charter company, Executive Fliteways Inc., hurting his reputation in the airline industry, he contends.

Gray appealed the decision to the TSA, saying he believed it was a case of mistaken identity, but after conducting a review, the agency stood by its decision.

Gray, who alleges in his suit that his constitutional rights to due process and privacy were violated, did not return calls. Wunsch said Gray cannot understand why he is being accused of being a threat to national security when he has flown planes for years without any problems.

''If we really care about safety, we're not being made safer by rejecting people without letting them know what they're accused of," Wunsch said. ''The government makes mistakes."

Davis said she could not disclose how many applicants have been rejected for flight training. But she said that based on statistics provided by the US Department of Justice, which previously handled security assessments for applicants, the TSA expects to receive about 35,000 requests by non-US citizens to take flight training each year. Of those, the agency projects that it will reject about 1 percent, or 350, she said.