Robert J. MacLean (born March 8, 1970, in Torrejon Air Base, Spain) is a former United States Federal Air Marshal and whistleblower. Early career MacLean served in the U.S. Air Force from 1988 to 1992. After his discharge, MacLean entered the United States Border Patrol as a border patrol agent. MacLean was recruited by the Federal Aviation Administration's Federal Air Marshal program immediately after the September 11 attacks. MacLean was in the first air marshal class to graduate after the September 11, 2001 attacks. After subsequently hiring a significant number of new air marshals, the FAA program was moved under the new Department of Homeland Security's Transportation Security Administration and called the Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS). Whistleblowing On July 28, 2003, MacLean disclosed to MSNBC a proposed TSA operational plan that he believed would have reduced aviation security: removing air marshals from long distance, nonstop flights to save on hotel costs. MacLean said he previously brought his concerns to his TSA managers and a Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General field agent, but was rebuffed, leading him to make contact with national media. MacLean was quoted, anonymously, along with other unnamed sources, in a story written by Brock N. Meeks, chief Washington correspondent for MSNBC.com. TSA first denied that air marshals would have been shifted, but the morning after MacLean's disclosure, the agency dropped the plan. TSA investigation and identification In 2005, MacLean appeared on NBC Nightly News to criticize a TSA dress code that he believed made it too easy to identify air marshals. While the appearance was supposed to be anonymous, MacLean's voice wasn't distorted, and he was identified by TSA officials. MacLean then admitted to being the source of the 2003 disclosure as well. Firing by TSA and administrative appeals MacLean was fired by the TSA on April 11, 2006, on the grounds that he disclosed prohibited security information. On August 31, 2006, more than six months after he was fired, the TSA retroactively marked MacLean's July 2003 disclosure as being Sensitive Security Information, an unclassified information category. MacLean appealed this decision to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), but after the TSA issued its August 31, 2008 "Final Order on Sensitive Security Information," the agency argued that the MSPB had no jurisdiction to challenge an "Agency Order." The MSPB Administrative Judge dismissed the appeal without prejudice so MacLean could challenge the Agency Order