Robert J. MacLean, Respondent
Neal Kumar Katyal, Counsel of Record
Robert J. MacLean began work as a Federal air marshal in 2001, providing security on U.S. commercial flights. In 2003, he learned that in order to save funds, his employer, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), was eliminating assignments on long-distance flights that required marshals to stay in hotels. MacLean feared this would threaten the safety of air travel, particularly after he heard that Islamic extremists had issued threats against airlines. After his initial attempts to relay his objections to his superiors and the department’s inspector general were rebuffed, MacLean gave this information to an MSNBC reporter, who produced a…
