The Freedom Tower

Government Computer News reports that the National Institute of Standards and Technology concluded that it was fire and not explosives or impact from debris that caused the 47-story World Trade Center building 7 to fail.

NIST announced the findings of the three year study Thursday [http://wtc.nist.gov /], and recommended changes in national building codes to take into account the affects of thermal expansion on structural members.

“Our study found that the fires in WTC 7, which were uncontrolled but otherwise similar to fires experienced in other tall buildings, caused an extraordinary event,” said Shyam Sunder, lead investigator in the NIST World Trade Center study. “Heating of floor beams and girders caused a critical support column to fail, initiating a fire-induced progressive collapse that brought the building down.”

Building 7 was the third building to collapse in the World Trade Center attacks. The two iconic towers collapsed shortly after being hit by hijacked airliners that morning. Building 7 was set ablaze by debris from the attacks and collapsed several hours later. NIST began investigating the attacks in August 2002 and released its findings on the collapse of towers 1 and 2 three years later. Investigators spent the last three years investigating Building 7.

“The investigation was an extensive, state-of-the-art reconstruction of the events that affected WTC 7 and eventually led to its collapse,” NIST said. “Numerous facts and data were obtained, then combined with validated computer modeling that is believed to be close to what actually occurred. A single computer simulation of the structural response to fires took about eight months to complete on powerful computing workstations and clusters.”

The investigation was somewhat hampered by the fact that steel samples from the building were not available for examination and testing. Debris from the attacks was removed as quickly as possible from the sites so that emergency responders could work in the area. Once removed from the scene, steel from Building 7 could not be clearly identified. Unlike pieces from the two primary towers, which were painted red and contained distinguishing marks, remains of Building 7 contained nothing to distinguish them.

This meant that there was much less physical evidence to examine from Building 7. “Nonetheless, the NIST investigation of WTC 7 is based on a huge amount of data,” investigators wrote. “These data come from extensive research, interviews, and studies of the building, including audio and video recordings of the collapse. Rigorous, state-of-the-art computer methods were designed to study and model the building’s collapse. These validated computer models produced a collapse sequence that was confirmed by observations of what actually occurred.”

The US Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will hold a media briefing and live public webcast on Aug. 21 in Gaithersburg, Md., on the findings and recommendations from its building and fire safety investigation of the collapse of World Trade Center Building 7 (WTC 7). WTC 7 was a 47-story building that fell nearly seven hours after the World Trade Center (WTC) towers collapsed following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The NIST WTC 7 report will present the probable collapse sequence for the building and will provide recommendations for improving building and fire safety in other buildings similar to WTC 7. The draft WTC 7 investigation report released at the briefing will be open for public comment through to noon Eastern Daylight Time on Sept. 15, 2008. The live webcast that will be accessible from NIST’s WTC website at http://wtc.nist.gov.

NY1 News says “Prosecutors are reportedly considering filing charges against the city in last summer’s fatal fire at the former Deutsche bank building.

Quoting The New York Times, NY1 says the newspaper is reporting “that investigators in the Manhattan District Attorney’s office believe neglect on the part of several city agencies may have contributed to the deaths of firefighters Robert Beddia and Joseph Graffagnino.

According to the paper, investigators are focusing on the Buildings Department’s failure to check a disconnected standpipe and conduct routine safety inspections.

The fire was apparently started by a cigarette. Stairwells in the building had been sealed, blocking off escape routes.

City corporation counsel Michael Cardozo said that all departments have cooperated with the investigation and any charges would be unwarranted.

The district attorney’s office would not comment to NY1 about the investigation.

Meanwhile, one of the major fire unions is pushing for better communication to prevent further tragedies.

The Uniformed Firefighters Association wants commanders to be notified every five minutes about water supply problems and to relay that information to firefighters in the building.

A fire spokesman said the department is reviewing the proposal.”

“As Labor Day nears, the effort to revitalize the World Trade Center has experienced significant forward motion as well as a few hitches,” Commercial Property News reports. “In the months to come, the massive rebuilding project is likely to show signs of progress as well as facing a series of difficult choices. Public agencies and private-sector interests swiftly addressed some of the 15 major challenges detailed June 30 by Christopher Ward, the recently appointed executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Ward, who addressed the New York Building Congress on Friday about the agency’s regional capital plans, warned that the World Trade Center’s projects face major delays and cost increases. The Port Authority is due to present follow-up assessment at the end of September.

Ward immediately addressed one of the big challenges on July 1, announcing a redesign that will clip millions of dollars from the $2 billion transit hub designed by the renowned Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. Wrapping up another item on Ward’s to-do list, the Port Authority and St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church struck a deal last month that will allow the construction of the World Trade Center’s vehicle security center. The church will receive $20 million to relinquish the parcel at 155 Cedar Street where its building was located before it was destroyed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

That parcel is one of three necessary to build the underground structure nicknamed the “South Bathtub,” which will contain the vehicle security center. The church will be rebuilt nearby at 130 Liberty St. Authorities checked off yet another task Ward’s list last month when the Port Authority and New York City established a joint policing and security plan for the World Trade Center.

Leasing for the World Trade Center’s five planned office towers has had mixed grades so far this summer, according to Commercial Property News. “Freedom Tower, which will be the rebuilt center’s tallest structure at 1,776 feet, scored its first private-sector tenant in June. Beijing Vantone Real Estate Co. agreed to a 23-year lease 190,000 square feet on the 64th through the 69th floors of the 108-story tower. But last month, Silverstein Properties Inc. headed back to the drawing board in its search for a tenant to anchor Tower 3, the 71-story, 2.1 million-square-foot building located at 175 Street. On July 17 the Port Authority acknowledged that Merrill Lynch & Co. had decided against moving to Tower 3 (pictured) when its 2 million-square-foot lease at the nearby 4 World Financial Center expires in 2013.”

Seven years after the terror attacks on the World Trade Center, hundreds who served as first responders are still suffering health problems, seven years after the terror attacks on the World Trade Center, according to Newsday, the Long Island newspaper “and despite a new $9 million federal grant for treatment and monitoring, doctors say more money is needed.

The Long Island World Trade Center Monitoring and Treatment Program at Stony Brook University Medical Center received the funding in a newly announced grant from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, an arm of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The money will pay for treatment and patient monitoring through next July.

Dr. Benjamin Luft, the program’s director, said yesterday the difference between the medical conditions seen shortly after the attacks and those being treated now has been the transformation from acute illnesses to chronic ones.

Respiratory problems, gastrointestinal conditions and post-traumatic stress disorder are common and often chronic for those who worked at Ground Zero, Luft said.

“We have about 4,500 people in the program,” he said, “many of whom suffer from a wide variety of problems and we continue to do our surveillance for new things that might evolve, whether it’s cancers or autoimmune diseases.”

But if, as Luft and his colleagues predict, World Trade Center disorders could afflict some for life, funding through next July will do little to aid the center’s long-term work.”

EfluxMedia reports the New York Police Department “wants to keep track of every automobile that enters Manhattan over the 16 bridges and 4 tunnels.

The elaborate scheme is part of the Lower Manhattan Security Initiative and represents an improved technique to secure the area around the World Trade Center.

The New York Police Department plans to install permanent license plate scanners at the 20 crossings into Manhattan, one of the five boroughs of New York City. The scanners will be designed to transmit information to an NYPD command center, where data would be scrutinized to determine if a certain vehicle has ever been related to any suspicious activity or current inquiry.

“We can’t deny the reality that we’ve had two attacks at that location - two successful terrorist attacks,” stated Raymond Kelly, the current Commissioner of the largest police force in North America.

The plan, which is still being revised, has already raised discontent. Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, categorized the project as “an assault on this country’s historical respect for the right to privacy and the freedom to be left alone.”

But according to Paul J. Browne, New York City Police Department’s Deputy Commissioner of Public Information, the plan has a preventive role in forestalling another terrorist attack, and would not be an inconvenient to vehicles or pedestrians.”

For those who thought Osama Bin Laden’s coven comprised only homicidal males, the New York Daily News brings you Aafia Siddiqui, captured last month in Afghanistan.
“In her possession were “documents describing the creation of explosives, chemical weapons and other weapons involving biological material and radiological agents.” And, the scariest thing, a list of New York landmarks - Statue of Liberty, Times Square - the subway system and Plum Island, the government research laboratory off Long Island.
Siddiqui, a 36-year-old Pakistani and a graduate of MIT, was nabbed lurking around a government compound in Afghanistan. While awaiting questioning, she allegedly grabbed a U.S. Army officer’s rifle and fired. Bad move.
The officer fired back with a pistol, wounding her, and Siddiqui was brought to New York to face federal charges. Her lawyer calls her a ’sacrificial lamb.’ “

Kevin M. Delano, a firefighter who worked to find survivors of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center, has died of leukemia, according to Zachary Dowdy newsday.com.

The Long Island, New York newspaper says the “former Howard Beach, Queens, resident was 54 and died July 30. As a member of Ladder 142 in Ozone Park, Queens, Delano was one of the first people to arrive at the rubble of Ground Zero after the skyscrapers crumbled.

He worked at the site for more than 40 hours straight. He had hoped to find any survivors, but especially sought his close friend, Ray York, of Howard Beach, who was killed.

Delano was retired from the Fire Department of New York and had served as chief of the West Hamilton Beach Volunteer Fire Department in Queens. He also had worked as a transit police officer and a member of the Coast Guard.

In 1980, he married Roseann Pannhorst in Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church in Howard Beach. Four years later, the couple had a son, Kevin. All the while, Delano balanced his duties as a firefighter, husband and father, often referred to by relatives as the rock of the family.

After retiring from the fire department in 2003 because of health conditions, Delano moved to Blakeslee, Pa., in the Poconos, where he played golf regularly, took up fishing and relaxed. He was later diagnosed with leukemia. His cancer was in remission for some time, then the disease reappeared and he received a bone-marrow transplant.

His doctor said he likely got leukemia because of burning benzene at the World Trade Center site, his wife said yesterday.”

One of the things learned from the Twin Towers disaster was giving first responders communications systems that do not fail.

Verizon Business has introduced a new service designed to enable police, fire and other public safety personnel to communicate directly with one another by radio, phone or e-mail during an emergency — even if they are using incompatible communications systems.

The service, Verizon Communications Interoperability Solution, is an Internet protocol (IP)-based platform that integrates radio as well as voice, data and wireless networks so that they can operate as a single network, thus enabling better communications among diverse federal, state and local public safety organizations.

This service helps remedy a long-standing problem that public safety and federal regulatory officials have been attempting to resolve. The issue was highlighted during the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center, when New York City’s police and fire departments could not communicate with each other during the rescue efforts because their radios operated on different frequencies.

[Note: An audio podcast discussing Verizon Communications Interoperability Solution is available at http://www.podtech.net/home/5315/verizon-business-leverages-ip-to-link-first- responders-during-times-of-crisis (Due to length of URL, please copy and paste into web browser).]

“The ability to effectively communicate during crisis situations is critical, especially given today’s legacy patchwork of first-responder communications systems,” said Nancy Gofus, senior vice president and chief marketing officer, Verizon Business. “Verizon Communications Interoperability Solution is a powerful tool that underscores how Verizon Business continues to bring innovation through IP.”

The state of West Virginia has signed up to use the new service, which is now available throughout the U.S. and is also well-suited for business customers with large campuses or widespread facilities, such as universities and manufacturing plants.

“Under the leadership of Gov. Joe Manchin, West Virginia has made emergency communications a top priority,” said Jimmy Gianato, director of the West Virginia Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. “Verizon Communications Interoperability Solution solves a long-standing critical need and will be instrumental in enabling our agencies to better communicate with other critical first responders during times of crisis and, in the process, help save lives and protect property.”

The Verizon Business interoperability service works this way:

Police and fire departments, emergency medical services and other public safety organizations identified by a government entity as primary points of contact during a crisis each set aside a channel on their radio systems. When activated, the service — using routers, interfaces and other equipment placed at the customer’s premises — links up all of the set-aside channels and converts them into IP. This enables all of the participating public safety organizations to communicate directly with one another, regardless of radio frequencies or other communications platforms.

The service can also link wireline and wireless voice calls and e-mail and text messages to the interoperable communications system. In addition, the service can be programmed to use prearranged phone numbers and radio frequencies to automatically alert public safety organizations when there is a crisis. Additional numbers can also be added easily during times of crisis.

Verizon Business’ Private IP service is the ideal foundation for this solution as it supports the required features — quality of service (QoS) and IP multicasting. QoS enables customers to prioritize traffic, and IP multicasting is a network-based service that helps conserve bandwidth by replicating data and sending it to pre-determined users. In addition, the Verizon Communication Interoperability Solution can be deployed over any IP network as long as minimum technical requirements are met.

Before the interoperability platform is deployed, Verizon Business professional services experts work with the customer and conduct an IP network readiness assessment to determine the ability of existing infrastructure to support the new service. The offering is cost effective because it leverages existing infrastructure.

Verizon Communications Interoperability Solution, the latest addition to Verizon Business’ emergency communications portfolio, is a customer premises equipment-based service that employs Cisco’s IP Interoperability and Communications System portfolio of devices and applications. Verizon Business is the first North American service provider to offer this Cisco-based platform.

In 2009, Verizon Business plans to introduce managed and hosted versions of this solution, which will offer public safety agencies greater choice and flexibility.

“Utilizing the transformative power of IP, Cisco and Verizon Business are changing the way first responders communicate and share information during times of crisis,” said Bill Stuntz, vice president and general manager of Cisco’s physical security business unit. “Using IP as the foundation to deliver truly interoperable communications, Verizon Communications Interoperability Solution combines the strength of Verizon Business’ IP network and professional services capabilities with the flexibility and scalability of Cisco IP Interoperability and Communication System.”

Serving the unique requirements of federal, state and local government public safety agencies, Verizon Business offers a comprehensive portfolio of specialized networking, call center, and data storage and processing capabilities to help homeland security, fire, police and medical response teams effectively respond to emergencies.

During the seven years since 9/11 there hasn’t been a successful terrorist attack within the United States, the Christian Science Monitor reports.
And Al Qaeda, the terrorist organization responsible for the downing of the World Trade Center, has been pushed back in Iraq where it continues to lose support,” The newspaper reports
“But the core of Al Qaeda continues to thrive, according to security analysts, who note it has increased the number of attacks worldwide since 9/11 as well as its geographic reach.
Those facts have led to two starkly different assessments of where the United States stands in its fight against terror – as well as sharp disagreement on the strategy needed as the country goes forward.
Last week the RAND Corp. sparked renewed debate about the nation’s strategy when it released a report done for the Defense Department that concluded that the so-called “war on terror” has so far failed to significantly undermine Al Qaeda’s capabilities. It suggested it was time for “fundamentally rethinking post-Sept. 11 US counterterrorism strategy.”
A top recommendation is to replace the phrase “war on terror” with the more low-key term counterterrorism.
“Terrorists should be p erceived and described as criminals, not holy warriors, and our analysis suggests that there is no battlefield solution to terrorism,” says Seth Jones, the study’s lead author. “With the growing number of attacks and an expansive reach, one could argue [Al Qaeda] is even growing stronger.”
That assessment prompted derision among some conservative security analysts who contend the “war on terror” is being waged successfully and should continue as is.”