another Open Letter

this time, straight to NIST. comments and co-signers welcome.

mailto: wtc@nist.gov, michael.newman@nist.gov

hello -

i've been following your investigation with great interest over the years, and first i want to thank you for sticking with it, and for the NCSTAR documents that have been released thus far.

i have been struggling with one issue in particular, and i realize that i've contacted everyone but NIST, so here goes:

NIST NCSTAR1-3 states that "no steel was recovered from WTC7", and that properties for the steel in that building will be based on "literature and contemporaneous documents".

the recent update to your FAQs (#14) now says that: "While NIST has found no evidence of a blast or controlled demolition event, NIST would like to determine the magnitude of hypothetical blast scenarios that could have led to the structural failure of one or more critical elements."

taking those two sections of quotes together, it seems that you still have not examined any of the A36 steel from WTC7.



in late 2001, Professors Barnett, Biederman, and Sisson of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (wpi.edu) had and examined samples of steel from WTC7, performing an Initial Microstructural Analysis which served as the basis for FEMA Report 403, Appendix C (Limited Metallurgical Examination).

these examinations revealed a high degree of erosion in the steel, an inexplicably high level of sulfidation, and someone from WPI remarked that the steel had been reduced to 'swiss cheese'...

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that was nearly five years ago, and i find it remarkable that, while FEMA definitely had steel from WTC7, and the steel was then definitely transferred to WPI for metallurgical examinations, NIST was not notified of the steel's existence, NIST is not aware of FEMA and/or WPI's possession of the steel, and since the Spring of 2002 noone from NIST has tried to obtain the A36 steel samples from these entities.

i have attempted to contact WPI numerous times to inquire as to what has become of the steel since 2001, but have not received any replies to my queries.

if you could please contact FEMA and/or Professor Jonathan Barnett @ WPI (jbarnett@wpi.edu), perhaps you could discover who has custody of the steel, obtain it, and examine it for your report.

there is no need to rely on "literature and contemporaneous documents", because the steel from WTC7 exists. this will save you the trouble of relying on 'hypothetical blast scenarios', and instead allow you to focus on physical evidence.

the "literature", for instance, will not exhibit the post-eutectic 'swiss cheese' erosion that is already well documented.

thank you for your time, and i will look forward to your reply.

sincerely,

skeptosis[at]hotmail[dot]com