NIST dealt with such testimonies by simply ignoring them.
E. NIST's Omission of Physical Evidence for
Explosives
NIST also ignored a lot of physical evidence that Building 7
was brought down by explosives.
Swiss-Cheese Steel: For example, three professors from
Worcester Polytechnic Institute discovered a piece of steel from
Building 7 that had melted so severely that it had holes in it, making
it look like Swiss cheese.79 The New York Times, pointing out that the
fires in the building could not have been hot enough to melt steel,
called this "the deepest mystery uncovered in the investigation."80 The
three professors, in a report included as an appendix to the 2002 FEMA
report, said: "A detailed study into the mechanisms of this phenomenon
is needed."81
When NIST's report on Building 7 appeared, however, it did
not mention this mysterious piece of steel. It even claimed that no
recovered steel from this building had been identified.82 And this was
just the beginning of NIST's omission of physical evidence.
Particles of Metal in the Dust: The nearby Deutsche Bank building was heavily contaminated by dust produced when the World Trade Center was destroyed. But the bank's insurance company refused to pay for the clean-up, claiming that the dust in the bank was ordinary building dust, not dust that resulted from the destruction of the WTC. So Deutsche Bank hired the RJ Lee Group, a scientific research organization, to do a study, which showed that the dust in this building was WTC dust, with a unique chemical signature. Part of this signature was "[s]pherical iron . . . particles,"83 and this meant, the RJ Lee Group said, that iron had "melted during the WTC Event, producing spherical metallic particles."84
Iron does not melt until it reaches 2,800F (1,538C),
which is about 1,000 degrees F (540 degrees C) higher than the fires
could have been. The RJ Lee study also found that temperatures had been
reached "at which lead would have undergone vaporization"85 meaning
3,180F (1,749C).86
Another study was carried out by scientists at the US Geological Survey. Besides also finding iron particles, these scientists found that molybdenum had been melted87 even though its melting point is extremely high: 4,753F (2,623C).88
These two studies proved, therefore, that something had
produced temperatures many times higher than the fires could have
produced. NIST, however, made no mention of these studies. But even this
was not the end of the physical evidence omitted by NIST.
Nanothermite Residue: A report by several scientists,
including University of Copenhagen chemist Niels Harrit, showed that the
WTC dust contained unreacted nanothermite. Whereas ordinary thermite is
an incendiary, nanothermite is a high explosive. This report by Harrit
and his colleagues did not appear until 2009,89 several months after the
publication of NIST's final report in November 2008. But NIST should
have, as a matter of routine, tested the WTC dust for signs of
incendiaries, such as ordinary thermite, and explosives, such as
nanothermite.
When asked whether it did, however, NIST said that it did not. When a reporter asked Michael Newman, a NIST spokesman, why not, Newman replied: "[B]ecause there was no evidence of that." "But," asked the reporter, "how can you know there's no evidence if you don't look for it first?" Newman replied: "If you're looking for something that isn't there, you're wasting your time . . . and the taxpayers' money."90
F. NIST's Fabrication of Evidence to Support Its
Own Theory
Besides omitting and distorting evidence to deny the
demolition theory of Building 7's collapse, NIST also fabricated
evidence simply made it up to support its own theory.
No Girder Shear Studs: NIST's explanation as to how fire caused Building 7 to collapse starts with thermal expansion, meaning that the fire heated up the steel, thereby causing it to expand. An expanding steel beam on the 13th floor, NIST claimed, caused a steel girder attached to a column to break loose. Having lost its support, this column failed, starting a chain reaction in which the other 81 columns failed, causing a progressive collapse.91 Ignoring the question of whether this is even remotely plausible, let us simply ask: Why did that girder fail? Because, NIST claimed, it was not connected to the floor slab with sheer studs. NIST wrote: In WTC 7, no studs were installed on the girders.92 Floor beams . . . had shear studs, but the girders that supported the floor beams did not have shear studs.93 This was a fabrication, as we can see by looking at NIST's Interim Report on WTC 7, which it had published in 2004. That report, written before NIST had developed its girder-failure theory, stated that girders as well as the beams had been attached to the floor by means of shear studs.94
A Raging Fire on Floor 12 at 5:00 PM: Another case of fabrication is a graphic in NIST's report showing that at 5:00 PM, there were very big fires covering much of the north face of Floor 12.95 This claim is essential to NIST's explanation as to why the building collapsed 21 minutes later. However, if you look back at NIST's 2004 report, you will find this statement:
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