President's security agent removed from flight

An Arab-American secret service agent assigned to US President George W Bush’s security team was removed from an American Airlines flight after the pilot questioned his credentials.

American Airlines spokesman Todd Burke said ‘‘inconsistencies’’ in paperwork filled out by the armed agent prompted his removal on Tuesday.

The captain decided a more thorough check was needed to confirm the identity of the agent, the spokesman said.

Ibrahim Hooper, of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said that the agent told him he felt he had been kicked off the Baltimore-Dallas flight because of his religion and race.

But the airline spokesman said: ‘‘This has absolutely nothing to do with ethnicity of the agent. What this has to do with this was confirming that an armed individual was indeed who he said he was.’’

The agent eventually travelled to Dallas on an American flight on Wednesday. His name cannot be released for security reasons.

‘‘We certainly apologise to the agent for any inconvenience,’’ Burke said. ‘‘But during this time of heightened security, we feel no-one is above the approved security procedures.’’

Hooper said the group has written to the airline asking for a clarification of its rules regarding ‘‘racial and ethnic discrimination.’’

The secret service is conducting an inquiry into the incident, said spokesman Jim Mackin.

The agent was flying to Texas, where Bush is scheduled to spend two weeks at his ranch in Crawford.

A mechanical problem caused the agent’s original flight to be cancelled, but he was re-booked on an American flight, Hooper said.

Once seated on the plane, airline security personnel asked the agent to submit to additional checks.

After a delay of an hour and 15 minutes - during which he was questioned by the flight’s pilot, airline officials and airport police - he was ordered to be removed from the flight despite offering to have the secret service confirm his identity.

Federal agents regularly travel armed aboard commercial flights.

Before boarding a plane armed, advance notice to the airline is given and an agent goes through several credential and identification checks. Once through security, the armed agent’s seat assignment is noted on the flight manifest for the crew’s knowledge.

In addition, it is routine procedure for any armed agents to introduce themselves to the pilot or co-pilot upon boarding the plane.

FBI spokesman Pete Gullota said an incident similar occurred shortly after the September 11 terrorist attacks.

An armed, off-duty FBI agent from the Baltimore office was not allowed to board a plane by a pilot despite following the security procedures.