Harshly worded TSA letters being reworked

WASHINGTON, June 23 (UPI) -- U.S. transportation officials say they are working to reword harsh-sounding letters sent to some visa applicants implying they are seen as security threats.

The issue surfaced in the case of a group of foreign oceanography students studying with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, the Washington Times reported Monday. Institute officials said the students became alarmed when the U.S. Transportation Security Administration rejected their attempts to gain a clearance to enter secure areas of U.S. ports.

But it wasn't so much the rejection as the words used in the letter from John Busch, TSA deputy director for security threat assessment operations, that raised concerns among the students their visas would not be renewed. Part of the May 1 letter read, "You pose or are suspected of posing a security threat," the newspaper quoted.

TSA spokesman Christopher White told the Times the agency will allow the students access to secure dock areas with an escort, and added the TSA is reworking how it words its denial-of-access letters, saying it currently has only two designations for such requests: "approved" and "security threat."