Premier foreign graduate oceanography students rarely make the news, busy as they are schlepping gear onboard at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. But that's exactly where 15 of MIT's finest are after being branded as security threats by the TSA (Transportation Security Administration).

Earlier in 2008 the Coast Guard said -- incorrectly, as it turns out -- the students couldn't load boats without a TWIC (Transportation Worker Identification Credential) because the docks are located in a secured port zone. Not to worry, though, all they needed to do was to apply for a TWIC.

They did. In a short time, the TSA determined -- incorrectly, as it turns out again -- that all 15 students were ineligible for TWICs because they held the wrong type of visa and, by the way, they were potential security threats. Not to worry, though, they could appeal the decision. The TSA even helpfully added, "You are not required to obtain an attorney."

A number of the students appealed the decision. A month later, they were again denied TWICs and they were deemed no longer potential threats but the real thing. "I have determined that you pose a security threat and you do not meet the eligibility requirements to hold a TWIC," wrote John M. Busch, deputy director of the TSA's Security Threat Assessment Operations.

Security risks? Was Woods Hole recruiting foreign grad students who were endangering Flipper? Not really. The TSA has only two designations when it comes to TWICs: approved or security risk. Had the students never applied for the TWICs they didn't need, they wouldn't have been designated as security threats.

"This really alarmed them. We have not been assured that our students won't face penalties down the road with TSA," James Yoder, vice president of academic programs at Woods Hole, told the Washington Times. For instance, would the students be allowed to leave the United States, or, perhaps more pertinently, would they be allowed to ever re-enter the country?

All because they incorrectly -- on the advice of the Coast Guard -- applied for a port pass it turns out they didn't need.

Under pressure from Rep. Brad Miller, chairman of the U.S. House Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee, the TSA admitted that the students posed no security risk other than the fact they were not eligible for TWICs. The TSA agreed to allow the students to continue loading gear in secure zones as long they were accompanied by someone holding a TWIC.

"Through no fault of their own, the students are limited in their ability to carry out research expected by their academic program and stigmatized as 'security threats' based entirely on their visa status," Miller wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

Thanks to Miller, the TSA also withdrew the initial letters and replaced them with letters stating that the students were denied TWICs simply because they were ineligible. Nice ending, right?

Well, not so fast. The students still have no assurance that the security risk designation was removed from the TSA's database. The TSA claims its database is a stand-alone operation and is not accessible by other agencies or connected to databases controlled by, say, the FBI. Again, not to worry, says the TSA.

As Miller notes, "Federal officials, business leaders and others frequently discuss the importance of educating the top foreign students in the United States. The actions by the TSA have the effect of telling oceanography students that perhaps it would be best to do their graduate studies in another country."

Unfortunately, that appears to be true.