Justice seeks dismissal of Highland Park scientist's lawsuit
By Jason Cato
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, September 27, 2008 The Justice Department has asked a federal judge to dismiss a Highland Park scientist's lawsuit claiming he lost his government job as a nuclear physicist because he publicly criticized the Iraq war and the FBI's treatment of Muslims.
A request to dismiss the lawsuit filed in June by Moniem El-Ganayni was entered Friday in U.S. District Court, Downtown. A Department of Justice lawyer argued El-Ganayni wants the government to reveal information "it has determined would damage national security."
The government claims the court has no jurisdiction to second-guess an Energy Department decision to revoke the scientist's security clearance.
El-Ganayni, 57, claims the Energy Department and Acting Deputy Secretary Jeffrey F. Kupfer, a Squirrel Hill native, violated his constitutional rights to defend himself, to free speech and to not be discriminated against for his ethnicity or religion.
The Egyptian-born Muslim, who has been a U.S. citizen for 20 years, worked at Bettis Laboratory in West Mifflin since 1990. In December, Kupfer stripped El-Ganayni of his security clearance to the facility, where work is performed for nuclear-powered warships.
El-Ganayni said his clearance was suspended after federal agents questioned him about his views regarding suicide bombings and whether he provided financial support to terrorist groups, among other things.
The interrogations came after El-Ganayni gave speeches at local mosques criticizing U.S. foreign policy and the mistreatment of Muslims by local FBI agents.
El-Ganayni wants U.S. District Judge Terrence F. McVerry to force the Energy Department to explain its reasoning for revoking his security clearance and allow him to defend himself against any accusations.
The government has only said that El-Ganayni's clearance was revoked because they determined him not to be "honest, reliable or trustworthy" because of ties to a "saboteur, spy, terrorist" or other foe of U.S. interest. Revealing any more information would threaten national security, the government claims.
El-Ganayni's lawsuit asserts national security has been invoked "solely to shield the agency from having to disclose the unconstitutional retaliatory and discriminatory reasons for the clearance revocation."
Jason Cato can be reached at jcato@tribweb.com or 412-320-7840.
My two cents:
What a jerk. I wish people realized that most of the information they think they know is dead wrong. We gave Saddam so much time to hide his stuff in Syria while we were messing around in congress that of course when we finally invaded, it looked like there were no weapons of mass destruction. All of it was dispersed! We gave him the opportunity to hide and he took advantage of it. Now we have stupid protesters on every corner yelling about things that they think they know. I believe it makes us look stupid as Americans.
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