Reuters
A federal judge, saying the case involved a state secret, dismissed a lawsuit on Wednesday against a unit of Boeing Co that charged the firm helped fly terrorism suspects abroad to secret prisons.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a complaint in May accusing Jeppesen Dataplan Inc of providing flight and logistical support to the U.S. government with at least 15 aircraft on 70 “extraordinary-rendition” flights.
“In sum, at the core of plaintiffs’ case against Defendant Jeppesen are ‘allegations’ of covert U.S. military or CIA operations in foreign countries against foreign nationals – clearly a subject matter which is a state secret,” Judge James Ware wrote in a ruling issued on Wednesday evening.
The court “grants the United States’ motion to dismiss on the ground that the very subject matter of the case is a state secret.”
The complaint to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California alleged Jeppesen “falsified flight plans to European air traffic control authorities to avoid public scrutiny of CIA flights.”
(Original Article)