By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

 

Filed at 8:01 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government said Friday that pilots deemed a security threat can have their licenses taken away without a hearing, prompting an angry reaction from a pilots' union.

The 66,000-member Air Line Pilots Association said under the rule, a pilot's career could be ended by an unsubstantiated accusation.

Capt. Duane Woerth, the union's president, said pilots won't be able to defend themselves because they won't have any way of finding out how the government decided they are a threat.

``This rule clearly crosses the line separating legitimate security measures from secretive, unaccountable government conduct,'' Woerth said.

Under the policy, the Transportation Security Administration would tell the Federal Aviation Administration that a pilot is a security threat. The FAA would revoke the pilot's license so the person could not fly a plane legally in the United States. The pilot could then appeal to the TSA or FAA.

``If you're not a terrorist, you don't have anything to worry about,'' TSA spokesman Robert Johnson said. He called the rule a ``technical correction'' to a policy that's been in effect for a year.

The rule was enacted without public comment. It appeared in Friday's Federal Register, which spurred the pilots' union to issue a statement.

A government official who spoke on condition of anonymity said in the last year 11 unidentified pilots, none of them citizens, had their licenses revoked. Seven appealed and three were reinstated after a review by TSA. Four revocations were upheld, the official said.

FAA spokesman Greg Martin said the policy is intended to reduce the threat of aviation-related terrorism.

Woerth complained that the policy robs pilots of due process because the government set no standards, procedures or criteria to determine that someone is a security threat.

``The unanswered questions about how one is determined by TSA to be a ``security threat'' should evoke a chill in every American,'' Woerth said.

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