A federal judge does not have the jurisdiction to "second-guess" security clearance decisions and should throw out a lawsuit by a Muslim scientist who claims he wrongly lost his clearance -- and his job -- at a nuclear warship plant, U.S. Justice Department attorneys said in court documents.

Lawyers for the Department of Energy contend the lawsuit filed by Egyptian-born scientist Abdel Moniem Ali El-Ganayni is an effort to publicize the security review process, which could pose a threat to the U.S.

"Acting Deputy (Energy) Secretary Jeffrey Kupfer has specifically found that the administrative review procedures could not be made available without damaging national security by revealing classified information and the Court lacks jurisdiction to second-guess that finding," the government said in its 39-page response docketed Friday.

The American Civil Liberties Union helped Dr. El-Ganayni sue earlier this year, saying he was wrongly fired for speaking against U.S. foreign policy and the alleged mistreatment of Muslims by the FBI.

The scientist has been a U.S. citizen for 20 years, but still lost his Energy Department security clearance and then was fired in May from Bettis Laboratory in West Mifflin, where he had worked for more than 17 years.

Dr. El-Ganayni lost his clearance because, the government says, it has "reliable information" that he had contact with "a saboteur, spy, terrorist, traitor, seditionist, anarchist, or revolutionist, espionage agent, or representative of a foreign nation whose interests are inimical to the interest of the United States," the filing states.