Secret Service agent barred from plane

Houston Chronicle

WASHINGTON — An armed Arab American Secret Service agent who protects the president was prohibited from flying an American Airlines plane bound for Texas earlier this week, raising fresh concerns of racial profiling.

However, an airline official denied that the agent’s ethnicity was at issue and said the problem was one of incomplete paperwork.

The agent was attempting to fly from Baltimore-Washington Airport to Dallas-Fort Worth Airport on Christmas Day to join the detail getting in place to protect President Bush, who arrived the next day at his Crawford, Texas, ranch.

The agent, on official duty and carrying a weapon, was pulled off the plane at the request of the pilot. He had boarded the plane after an earlier flight was canceled.

The agent was then forced to undergo more security checks and barred from taking the flight.

He was able to take a flight Wednesday, and is now with the president.

The White House referred all inquiries on the incident to the Secret Service, where an official confirmed the agent was denied access to the flight.

"The Secret Service is currently conducting an inquiry into this incident," said Jim Mackin, Secret Service spokesman.

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