Plaintiff-Appellant Hossein Zeinali, who is of Iranian descent, was employed by Defendant-Appellee Raytheon Company for approximately four years. Raytheon informed Zeinali that this position required him to obtain a "Secret" level security clearance, and informed Zeinali that his continued employment was contingent on obtaining such clearance. In November 2004, Zeinali transferred to a different engineering position, "Senior Systems Engineer," which, according to Raytheon, also required a "Secret" clearance. Ultimately, though, Raytheon decided to terminate Zeinali because he did not obtain a clearance. Zeinali generally agrees with this outline of events, but points to evidence that at least two non-Iranian engineers were retained while Zeinali was fired.

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