Letter to Editor, North County Times, published August 3, 2010
nctimes.com/news/opinion/letters

We have a federal agency showing disdain for the Freedom of Information Act. Dr. Patrick Gallagher, Director of National Institute for Standards and Technology, denied a request from structural engineer Ronald Brookman, who sought detailed structural analysis information gathered by NIST when they determined the cause of the World Trade Center Building 7 collapse. Gallagher's stated reason for denial was that releasing it "might jeopardize public safety."

What might jeopardize public safety is "not" allowing professionals in the building industry such as Mr. Brookman to independently study the NIST analysis of the highly anomalous building failure. A 47-story high-rise suddenly collapses straight down into its own footprint — highly anomalous.

In response to FOIA request, NIST has refused to provide copies of transcripts and tapes of interviews with the first responders about Michael Hess and Barry Jennings trapped in WTC7.

Excerpt from NIST NCSTAR 1-8: proof of existence and classification of the interviews with explicit references to the two men trapped in the WTC 7:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_t3o9Qg0QuNQ/S4WPg-VpyVI/AAAAAAAABGE/RGLicmuxqTY/s1600-h/trapped+ncstar+1-8.jpg

Below there are links to documents we exchanged with NIST:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_t3o9Qg0QuNQ/S4WQe3bm1YI/AAAAAAAABGM/9-z5f5W1E3Q/s1600-h/foia+request.jpg

The FBI has sent me a largely uninteresting cover letter in response to an FOIA request filed when your grandfather was a small boy. The letter was originally sent in 2003 with a report about an investigation by the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) into FBI abuse of the so-called “wall” procedures, which regulated information sharing between intelligence agents on one side and prosecutors and criminal agents on the other.

Together with the cover letter, the report totals 244 pages, but will not be forthcoming from the FBI. As it was done by the OPR, it should come to me from the DoJ. The bureau also sent me a six-page list of the other page numbers (3 to 244, understandably) and next to each number is the text “Referral/direct.” If you don’t believe they could do anything this pointless, see here.

Published in the September, 2009, Rock Creek Free Press

In an attempt to get to the bottom of what really happened on 9/11, citizen investigator Aidan Monaghan has filed dozens of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests with federal agencies such as the FBI, SEC, Department of the Navy, and the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey. Agency after agency has refused to comply with his requests, instead claiming that the information cannot be found, does not exist, was never properly filed, or even, from the FAA, that it was simply “not in a position to release said records at this time.”

On January 8, 2008, I submitted a FOIA Request to NIST asking for all records that relate to the fireproofing upgrades made to the Twin Towers prior to 9/11. I was recently successful in getting three new reports about the condition of the Twin Towers just prior to 9/11 released.

One report is a fire engineering assessment completed by Burro Happold in February of 2000. The other two reports were property condition assessments done by Merritt & Harris, Inc. a year or so prior to 9/11. These reports together total hundreds of pages, and I want them widely released so they can be analyzed in light of the NIST reports on the collapses of the Twin Towers. Note that the Merritt & Harris reports are very large files.

Merritt & Harris Report #1: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NRZG0EYP

Merritt & Harris Report #2: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=SXPY2FU6

Burro Happold Report: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=42IO10P8

Please report any interesting findings here.

for information purposes; if you know any dirt on j.m. berger, intelwire.com or intelfiles.com please post in comments.

"INTELFILES features the largest collection of official 9/11 documents on the Web, including a collection of documents footnoted in the Final Report of the 9/11 Commission. More than 200 documents obtained from the FBI through the Freedom of Information Act have already been posted. More documents from other agencies will follow."

http://intelfiles.egoplex.com/2009/02/911-commission-fbi-source-documents.html

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

9/11 Commission, FBI Source Documents, Chronological, Jan. 1, 2003 to Dec. 31, 2003

1/8/2003: FBI Letterhead Memorandum, Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas

1/8/2003: FBI Letterhead Memorandum, Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas (unredacted)

1/16/2003: FBI FD-302, Record of interrogation, Derar Mohammed Saleh

2/4/2003: FBI FD-302, Record of interrogation, Shareef Abdulmuttaleb El-Arbi

2/4/2003: FBI FD-302, Record of interrogation, Shareef Abdulmuttaleb El-Arbi (less redacted)

2/4/2003: FBI FD-302, Record of interrogation, Shareef Abdulmuttaleb El-Arbi (different redactions)

A FOIA request by James Gourley regarding firefproofing upgrades at the WTC has produced the following documents zipped up in a 31 megabyte file that you can download and examine here;

NIST Fireproofing docs

There doesn't appear to be a "smoking gun", but take a look if you are interested.

Taking the lead from Aidan I've submitted my own foia asking for instructions to run the WTC 7 collapse simulation. So far the response is that there are no records, so I've submitted an appeal. I'm hoping the instructions will include some information about absurd initial parameters.

Complaint:

I want step by step instructions how to run the WTC 7 collapse simulation. Is this just a matter or rephrasing the request or does NIST not have step by step instructions? Are you seriously telling me that no one either in NIST nor outside is capable of reproducing the collapse simulation because the instructions do not exist?

Keeping true to his promise of transparency [1], President Barack Obama issued an order today taking the first step toward lifting the veil of secrecy that had shrouded government information for the last eight years.

According to a White House statement:

"In The Presidential Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government (pdf [2]), and the Presidential Memorandum on the Freedom of Information Act (pdf [3]), the President instructs all members of his administration to operate under principles of openness, transparency and of engaging citizens with their government. To implement these principles and make them concrete, the Memorandum on Transparency instructs three senior officials to produce an Open Government Directive within 120 days directing specific actions to implement the principles in the Memorandum. And the Memorandum on FOIA instructs the Attorney General to in that same time period issue new guidelines to the government implementing those same principles of openness and transparency in the FOIA context."

http://911workinggroup.org/

The 9/11 Working Group of Bloomington is a local civic education advocacy group located in Bloomington, Indiana. They have sponsored two major speaking events, bringing Richard Gage and Steven Jones to Bloomington in September 2007, and hosting David Ray Griffin in September 2008. Both events drew large crowds to a local theater in the city that is home to Indiana University. These two events, as well as another lecture given by members of the group, were recorded and are replayed regularly on cable access television and community radio. The group also has sponsored several film series. All of these events have been free and open to the public.

Bloomington is the largest city in Indiana's ninth congressional district, where Lee Hamiton, 9/11 Commission co-chairman, served as congressman for 35 years. Mr. Hamilton is sill very active in the local community, and is director of the Center On Congress at Indiana University. Several members of the 9/11 Working Group met with Mr. Hamilton in May 2008, to discuss the 9/11 Commission Report, and to invite the former congressman to participate in any of the public discussions sponsored by the group. To date, Mr. Hamilton has declined due to schedule conflicts.

The 9/11 Working Group has also been active in the submission of Freedom of Information Act Requests (FOIAs). Such requests have been made for information concerning the alleged hijackers, for information on the whereabouts and actions of Bush and Cheney on 9/11, for environmental data collected at Ground Zero, and for background Documents supplied to 9-11 Commission, among other things. Each such request is sent to numerous potentially relevant agencies, and as useful responses are obtained they are shared with the public at the group's website. Responses have also been used in a mainstream scientific article, and in the film Loose Change Final Cut.

I have obtained a new document via FOIA request. It is an FAA memo comprising a transcript of calls between various FAA facilities and other institutions on the day of 9/11, and was referenced in the 9/11 Commission Report, in endnote 128 to Chapter 1 (on page 459). It is not spectacularly exciting, but touches on awareness of all four hijacks, in particular the last three. You can find it here.

Continued here.

Judge: White House can ignore e-mail information requests By Timothy B. Lee Ars Technica June 16, 2008

"A federal judge today sided with the Bush administration in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit related to missing White House e-mails. Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly... held that the White House's Office of Administration was not a federal agency as that term is defined by the FOIA and was therefore not obligated to respond to FOIA requests."

"CREW [Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington] was seeking internal documents that could reveal the extent of the missing e-mail problem. Not surprisingly, the Bush administration has been reluctant to release those potentially embarrassing records. Indeed, after more than a quarter-century of complying with FOIA requests, last year the Office of Administration announced that it had re-considered its status under FOIA and would no longer comply with FOIA requests."

Helping Researchers Obtain Required Information Concerning the 9/11 Attacks


In 2006, prior to the "necessary" split in the Scholars for 9/11 Truth group, there was an online petition that was to be sent to ALL members of the US Senate and Congress.

The target amount of signatures is 10,000 and the petition is currently located at :

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/929981172

Dear 911 Truth Activists,

It's official: the American people finally have a Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) that they can count on to improve government transparency in the 21st Century.

Last week, President Bush signed the OPEN Government Act into law, updating FOIA to bring greater transparency to a government that, in recent years, has increasingly made its decisions out of public view. I'm proud to have authored this important bill, and I'm even prouder that the President decided to sign it.

Our Leahy online community played a pivotal role in helping this legislation gain traction, win the support of Congress, and secure its enactment. The reforms of the OPEN Government Act will make 2008 a welcome turning point toward greater accountability, giving our government a much-needed dose of sunshine that will serve Americans for generations to come.

The OPEN Government Act will improve the FOIA process by:

* Imposing meaningful deadlines on agencies handling information requests;

* Establishing a FOIA hotline;

* Bringing government records held by private contractors into full public view;

How to Make a FOIA Request

The National Security Archive User's Guide to the FOIA

Tips and Tricks to Using the FOIA

Sample Freedom of Information Act Letter

Sample Freedom of Information Act Appeal Letter