Chris Liu, Colfax resident and formerly anonymous airline pilot who found himself in trouble with the Department of Homeland Security and the TSA over a video he posted on YouTube showing the glaring inconsistencies in security at San Francisco International airport, has disclosed his name and website.
You might remember Liu's plight from headlines in early December. After posting to YouTube a behind-the-scenes cellphone video tour highlighting the lax security for ground personnel at SFO and contacting a local Sacramento news affiliate to make the story public, he was disciplined by the TSA.
"Well, folks, I just wanted to give you an idea of what type of security for the ground personnel there is. This is their screening. As you can see, there's only a card slide and one door," Liu says in the video which has since been removed from YouTube. "And right here's a sign, 'Think security.' Well, I don't think there's much security here."
According to ABC7 news in San Francisco, federal air marshals and sheriffs' deputies were dispatched to the pilot's home after seeing the video. Liu, himself a Federal Flight Deck Officer, also recorded this encounter which resulted in the confiscation of his federally issued handgun.
Don Werno, an attorney who represents the pilot and his website, says he believes the TSA was sending a message that:
"you've angered us by telling the truth and by showing America that there are major security problems despite the fact that we've spent billions of dollars allegedly to improve airline safety."
The 50 year-old pilot has flown with an undisclosed airline for 27 years. His website, “The Patriot Pilot” is dedicated to keeping Americans “safe” when they fly and demands Congressional action to make it so.
For Liu, the terrorist threat is real – a sort of clear and present danger.
“The Emperor has no clothes and his stark nakedness is just not pretty,” he writes on his site. “The terrorists were working on Christmas and planning jihadist celebrations for the New Year. Is TSA working on solving this problem or just on spin control?”
Well, TSA officials might be masters of spin, but Liu and Werno aren't being entirely genuine themselves. While it's evident that the FBI has been hard at work foiling its own terror plots over the past 9 years, the actual existence of the “jihadists” they fear so much may be somewhat in question.
*Editor's note: Article has been amended for accuracy. Liu is, in fact, a Federal Flight Deck Officer, not an Air Marshal.