The National Institute of Standards and Techonology (NIST), the U.S.
government agency responsible for analyzing the collapse of 1 and 2 World
Trade Center, stated in a memo dated February 3, 1964:
"The buildings have been investigated and found to be safe in an assumed
collision with a large jet airliner (Boeing 707 - DC 8) traveling at 600
miles per hour. Analysis indicates that such collision would result only in
local damage which would not cause collapse or substantial damage to the
building and would not endanger the lives and safety of occupants not in the
immediate area of impact."
The memo also states: "The structural analysis carried out by the firm of
Worthington, Skilling, Helle & Jackson is the most complete and detailed of
any ever made for any building structure."
Executive Summary, Table E-8 of the NIST report estimates aircraft impact
speeds at 443 mph plus or minus 30 for AA 11 (WTC 1), and 542 mph plus or
minus 24 for UAL 175 (WTC 2).
Executive Summary, Finding 18 states that "the tower still had reserve
capacity after losing a number of columns and floor segments due to aircraft
In an August 30, 2006 Fact Sheet, NIST stated:
concluded that the WTC towers collapsed because: (1) the impact of the
planes severed and damaged support columns, dislodged fireproofing
insulation coating the steel floor trusses and steel columns, and widely
dispersed jet fuel over multiple floors; and (2) the subsequent unusually
large jet-fuel ignited multi-floor fires (which reached temperatures as high
as 1,000 degrees Celsius) significantly weakened the floors and columns with
dislodged fireproofing to the point where floors sagged and pulled inward on
the perimeter columns. This led to the inward bowing of the perimeter
columns and failure of the south face of WTC 1 and the east face of WTC 2,
initiating the collapse of each of the towers."
In response to an April 12, 2007 "Request for Correction," NIST's Catherine S.
Fletcher, Chief, Management and Organization Division, in a letter dated September 27, 2007, stated:
"NIST Computer Simulations: NIST has used an extensive database of
photographic and video evidence to validate the models used to analyze the
behavior of the towers up to the point of initiation of collapse."
"The WTC Steel Temperature: While NIST did not find evidence that any of
the recovered core columns experienced temperatures in excess of 250C, it is
not possible to extrapolate from such a small sample size to state that none
of the core columns on the fire affected floors reached temperatures in
excess of 250C."
"The Goal of the WTC Report and Its Overall Analysis: NIST has stated
that it did not analyze the collapse of the towers. NIST carried its
analysis to the point where the buildings reached global instability. . . .
we were unable to provide a full explanation of the total collapse."
In other words, NIST has not analyzed the collapse of the towers. NIST's
analysis ends with the "initiation of collapse."
admits that physical evidence does not support their conclusion of fire
temperatures as high as 1,000 degrees Celsius. In the samples taken from the
site, there's no evidence that any core column experienced temperatures in
excess of 250C.
Steel loses 50% strength at 650C, and melts at 1500C. And while turbulent,
premixed jet fuel/air temperature will reach
1000C, turbulent, diffusion jet fuel/air temperature will reach 500C to
If for the sake of argument only, one were to assume that the fire was large
enough, the fire was neither hot enough, nor long-lasting enough (the blulk
of the fire was out in 10 to 15 minutes), to significantly weaken the
towers. And this does not account for the fact that the steel structure, in
essence a large radiator, would have dispersed some of the heat.
Kevin Ryan, a division director who was
terminated by Underwriters Laboratories for challenging the NIST
"Of course, those of us who have actually followed NIST's investigation know
that they could not produce any "robust criteria" to establish that
fireproofing was lost through forces of vibration. Instead, NIST performed a
shotgun test to see if the fireproofing could have been lost through
"The shotgun test not only failed to support NIST's pre-determined
conclusions, as was the case for all of their other physical tests, but it
actually proved that the fireproofing could not have been sheared off
because too much energy would be needed."
Richard Gage, founder of Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth, makes the following points
regarding the NIST report:
The destruction occurred with rapid onset, at virtually free-fall speed,
and with radial symmetry.
One hundred eighteen first responders described hearing, seeing and
feeling explosions and seeing flashes of light at the onset of destruction.
The concrete floors were almost completely pulverized into dust and gravel.
The structural steel framework was largely dismembered into shippable
lengths. Much of it was hurled outside the Twin Towers' perimeters, some as
far as 500 feet away.
Tons of molten
metal were seen by FDNY and others, and was described as "flowing like
lava" for weeks after 9/11, yet its existence was denied by NIST.
Proven chemical evidence of thermate, an incendiary material which
produces molten iron as its by-product, found on the columns and beams,
previously molten metal, and iron-rich micro-spheres in the dust by Dr.
Steven Jones [founder of
Scholars for 9/11 Truth & Justice] (and corroborated by the U.S. Geological
Survey but never explained).
"These features are characteristic of controlled demolitions, and not office
or jet fuel fires", writes Gage.
Leslie Robertson, strutural engineer responsible for the design of the
World Trade Center, is reported to have said at the National Conference of
Structural Engineers on October 5, 2001: "As of 21 days after the attack, the
fires were still burning, and molten steel was still running".
In the August 30, 2006 Fact Sheet, NIST states that it does
not support the "pancake theory" of collapse.
[Strength loss for steel is generally accepted to begin at about 300C and
increases rapidly after 400C, by 550C steel retains about 60% of its room
temperature yield strength. This is usually considered to be the failure
temperature for structural steel. However, in practice this is a very
conservative assumption; low loads, the insulating effects of concrete
slabs, the restraining effects of connections etc. mean that real failure
temperatures can be as high as 750C or even higher for partially exposed
of steel framed buildings - Fire damage assessment of hot rolled structural
steel," azobuild.com, October 10, 2003
[While Rice may not have been aware of the 12 separate and explicit warnings about
terrorists using planes as weapons when she made her denial in 2002, she did know about
them when she wrote her March 22, 2004 Washington Post op-ed. In that piece, she once
again repeated the claim there was no indication "that terrorists were preparing to
attack the homeland using airplanes as missiles."--"Claim vs. Fact: Rice's
Q&A Testimony Before the 9/11 Commission," americanprogress.org, April 8, 2004
[We disagree, based upon general technological principles and also multiple
reasons to believe that the destructive energy was released at "Ground Zero"
by fissionless fusion devices, also known as tactical nuclear
weapons, that had been placed inside the buildings - a technologically
simpler explanation which better fits the evidence.--"'Ground Zero' Energy
Surplus: Analysis and Discussion," 911u.org, November 2008]
we conclude that the red layer of the red/gray chips we have discovered in
the WTC dust is active, unreacted thermitic material, incorporating
nanotechnology, and is a highly energetic pyrotechnic or explosive
material.--Niels H. Harrit, Jeffrey Farrer, Steven E. Jones, Kevin R. Ryan,
Frank M. Legge, Daniel Farnsworth, Gregg Roberts, James R. Gourley, Bradley
R. Larsen, "Active Thermitic Material Discovered in Dust from
the 9/11 World Trade Center Catastrophe," The Open Chemical Physics
Journal, vol 2, 2009]
[The significance is that, during a period of freefall, all of the
gravitational potential energy is converted to energy of motion (kinetic
energy). There is no energy available for doing other work, such as breaking
up structural columns or hurling structural pieces out of the way as
required by NIST's fire-induced collapse scenario.--Matt Sullivan, "NIST's Quiet
Admission of Controlled Demolition," Rock Creek Free Press, April
May 28, 2009
[Kurt Sonnenfeld: There were
many things, in hindsight, that were disturbing at Ground Zero. It was odd to me that I
was dispatched to go to New York even before the second plane hit the South Tower, while
the media was still reporting only that a "small plane" had collided with the North
Tower - far too small of a catastrophe at that point to involve FEMA. The Agency was
mobilized within minutes, whereas it took ten days for it to deploy to New Orleans to
respond to Hurricane Katrina, even with abundant advance warning! It was odd to me that
all cameras were so fiercely prohibited within the secured perimeter of Ground Zero,
that the entire area was declared a crime scene and yet the "evidence" within that crime
scene was so rapidly removed and destroyed. And then it was very odd to me when I
learned that FEMA and several other federal agencies had already moved into position at
their command center at Pier 92 on September 10th, one day before the attacks!
We are asked to believe that all four of the "indestructible" black boxes of the two
jets that struck the twin towers were never found because they were completely
vaporized, yet I have footage of the rubber wheels of the landing gear nearly undamaged,
as well as the seats, parts of the fuselage and a jet turbine that were absolutely not
vaporized. This being said, I do find it rather odd that such objects could have
survived fairly intact the type of destruction that turned most of the Twin Towers into
thin dust. And I definitely harbor some doubts about the authenticity of the "jet"
turbine, far too small to have come from one of the Boeings!--Gaia Edwards, "9/11 FEMA videographer at Ground
Zero goes public," voltairenet.org, June 22, 2009]
[ . . . experts state the speeds are impossible to
achieve near sea level in thick air if the aircraft were a standard 757/767
as reported. Combined with the fact the airplane which was reported to
strike the south tower of the World Trade Center was also producing high G
Loading while turning and pulling out from a dive, the whole issue becomes
incomprehensible--Robert Balsamo, "NASA
Flight Director Confirms 9/11 Aircraft Speed As The 'Elephant In The
Room'!," pilotsfor911truth.org, June 22, 2010]
VIDEO: Jonathan H. Cole, "9/11 Experiments: The Mysterious
Eutectic Steel," youtube.com, July 13, 2010
Jonathan H. Cole, "The Great Thermate Debate," November 10, 2010
[This "international trading division" of Hugo Neu was used to dispose of
many tons of the critical steel evidence from the World Trade Center, before
it could be examined by engineers.--Christopher Bollyn, WikiLeaks
and the 9/11 Crime Gang," bollyn.com, December 13, 2010]
[For his outstanding heroism during America's desperate hour, William
Rodriguez received a special commendation for valor from President George W.
Bush at a special White House ceremony. . . .
Rodriguez and a handful of co-workers who were down in the basement at the
time of the attack, actually heard and felt huge explosions beneath their
feet in the lower basement levels. . . .
While this anomaly in itself should have been cause for serious
investigation, it is the timing of these explosions that is extremely
They occurred several seconds BEFORE the first airplane impacted the tower.
The first of these explosions, which occurred about 7-8 seconds before the
plane struck the tower was so powerful it literally threw Rodriguez upwards,
clean off the floor, as parts of the false ceiling collapsed onto and around
him. . . .
It would be another sixteen minutes before the second aircraft would rip
into the one Mongello was in.
Yet, within a minute of the first plane hitting the North Tower, an elevator
in the SOUTH Tower exploded to smithereens right before his eyes!
Mongello and others were literally blown backwards by the blast, as
people - many, horribly burned - began to run willy-nilly shrieking in pain,
shock, and sheer terror. Thick, black smoke could be seen billowing out of
the now exposed elevator shaft, and the pungent smell of "gunpowder" was
["Jeb Bush, for his part, actually participated in the destruction of evidence at the CIA
drug import airstrips in Florida that were tasked to be flight schools where they were
pretending to train alleged 9/11 hijackers to fly."--Kevin Barrett, "Trump destroyed Jeb Bush
candidacy over his role in 9/11," veteranstoday.com, January 8, 2016]