Steve Jones sent this letter today to U.S. Congressman Christopher Cannon, R-Utah:

"Dear Congressman Cannon [and assistant]:

Thank you for your letter and for your attention to these important issues, about which I have written the Congressman before. It is heartening to hear a response promising some action.

Yes, I do have some questions that I ask of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and I appreciate your offer for assistance in getting answers.

1. Quoting from the NIST fact sheet (August 2006):
Q: "Was the steel tested for explosives or thermite residues? The combination of thermite and sulfur (called thermate) "slices through steel like a hot knife through butter."

A: "NIST did not test for the residue of these compounds in the steel."

NIST qualifies the statement saying they "did not test for the residue of these compounds IN THE STEEL."
Did they test for residues of aluminothermic (thermite-family)
reactions anywhere? Solidified slag? WTC dust? If so, what did they find? If they did not test for such residues anywhere, why not?

2. Quoting again from the NIST fact sheet:

"NIST concluded that the source of the molten material [observed flowing out of WTC2 before its collapse] was aluminum alloys from the aircraft, since these are known to melt between 475 degrees Celsius and 640 degrees Celsius (depending on the particular alloy), well below the expected temperatures (about 1,000 degrees Celsius) in the vicinity of the fires.
"Aluminum is not expected to ignite at normal fire temperatures and there is no visual indication that the material flowing from the tower was burning.

"Pure liquid aluminum would be expected to appear silvery.

"However, the molten metal was very likely mixed with large amounts of hot, partially burned, solid organic materials (e.g., furniture, carpets, partitions and computers) which can display an orange glow, much like logs burning in a fireplace. The apparent color also would have been affected by slag formation on the surface."

The day after reading the NIST fact sheet on-line, on 8/31/06, a group of us performed experiments to test this hypothesis -- that molten aluminum "mixed with large amounts of hot, partially burned, solid organic materials (e.g., furniture, carpets, partitions and computers) ... can display an orange glow," -- and we could NOT see any such orange glow in actual tests.

So we ask NIST to tell us how to do this trick -- how to get molten aluminum when poured out in daylight conditions, as at WTC2, to "display an orange glow."

(Even with organics mixed in with aluminum -- we did actual
experiments to test the NIST statement, and the experiments
demonstrated a silvery (not "orange") flow of liquid material. We observed that the organics tend to separate out from the aluminum, like oil separating from water).

A related question -- did NIST do any ACTUAL TESTS before issuing their Fact Sheet in August 2006, to determine whether molten aluminum "mixed with large amounts of hot, partially burned, solid organic materials" will actually display an orange glow?

3. In the same fact sheet, NIST writes: ""Separate from the WTC towers investigation, NIST researchers estimated that at least 0.13 pounds of thermite would be required to heat each pound of a steel section to approximately 700 degrees Celsius (the temperature at which steel weakens substantially). Therefore, while a thermite reaction can cut through large steel columns, many thousands of pounds of thermite
would need to have been placed inconspicuously ahead of time, remotely ignited, and somehow held in direct contact with the surface of hundreds of massive structural components to weaken the building. This makes it an unlikely substance for achieving a controlled demolition."
http://wtc.nist.gov/pubs/factsheets/faqs_8_2006.htm

But this discussion totally ignores what I say in my paper (see www. Journalof911Studies.com) regarding SUPERthermites,
which are explosive (not just incendiary) and which have high energy density. With the use of ultra-fine aluminum and metal-oxide powders, superthermite-class explosives are made. Can NIST at least acknowledge the existence of explosive superthermites, and that with these explosives much LESS material would be required than with ordinary thermites?

4. Finally, I note from an earlier NIST report that NIST obtained "6,899 photographs" and over 300 hours of video recordings – acquired mostly by private parties – which it admits to holding (NIST, 2005, p. 81). I call for the immediate release of these and all relevant data
for scrutiny by the international community of scientists and
engineers. If there is nothing to hide, why hide these data? There certainly will be no justification for requiring non-disclosure agreements as we look at these photos and videos obtained largely from the public using taxpayer moneys. Evidence relating to WTC 7 (which was NOT hit by a jet) and its mysterious complete collapse must not be held back. I call for the immediate and full release of ALL these videos and photographs.

I would appreciate your forwarding these requests to Utah Senators Bob Bennett and Orrin Hatch so that they may be aware of the actions being taken to resolve these important issues.

Sincerely,

Steven E. Jones, Ph.D.
Physicist"