Aero Contractors, a private air charter company based in Johnston County, became the "home of CIA aviation," moving suspected terrorists to countries where they could be more harshly interrogated, according to a new book by freelance journalist Stephen Grey.

But Grey, the author of "Ghost Plane: The True Story of the CIA Torture Program," is convinced that publicity about the program and Aero's involvement has forced the charter company to scale back its role.

"I have no doubt the whole thing has been reorganized," Grey said in a recent interview.

Aero President Norman Richardson said he has read a lot of insinuations in the book but few facts. Grey was "just grabbing at straws as far as guesswork and putting us in a business we're not in," Richardson said. Aero leases and maintains planes -- what others do with the planes is "their business," he said.

Last year, in part because of Grey's reporting for The New York Times and CBS' "60 Minutes," Aero became known as a possible supplier of CIA planes headed to places such as Syria, Egypt, Morocco and Jordan.

Based on flight records and interviews with former employees, Grey's book claims that Aero became a key part of the "new Air America," referring to the airline the CIA operated during the Vietnam War.

Grey said following the Sept. 11 attacks, at least 40 to 50 pilots flew Aero planes for CIA "renditions," although he was not sure whether Aero employed those pilots.

"I ... haven't tracked down where they all live ... but [of] those I know about, I would say a high proportion live in Johnston or the neighboring two to three counties," Grey said in a subsequent e-mail message.

Grey defines a rendition as the transfer of a prisoner to any place but an American court of law.

Aero does offer pilots to clients, Richardson said, but those pilots work mostly domestic flights. "They're family men ... usually spending nights at home."

Of about 22 planes the book describes as being part of the CIA's fleet, 10 to 15 were based at Aero, Grey said in an interview. The book includes flight plans of two planes in particular, a Gulfstream V and a 737 Boeing Business Jet. The Gulfstream V made frequent stops in Johnston County, where Aero continues to operate.

The Boeing 737, which was too large for the runway near Smithfield, flew to and from the state-funded Global TransPark in Kinston, where Aero maintains a hangar. Grey said only partial records were made available to him and other flights may have originated from Kinston.

One journey of the 737 could lead German prosecutors to issue arrest warrants for pilots based in Johnston County. Flight records for the 737 in January 2004 match the claims of one of the most high-profile cases of alleged rendition, involving Khaled El-Masri, a former German car salesman and father of five.

Grey, who said his book doesn't reveal the identities of CIA agents, claims he wasn't trying to get pilots arrested.

"I don't want to be a part of the revelation of names," he said. "I think these people are doing good, patriotic work. [Renditions are] only one part of what they do."

His goal, he said, was to uncover the United States' role in outsourcing torture.