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.”

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.”

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.’ “

In Cuba the press, including the Washington Post, report that a former driver for Osama bin Laden was sentenced by a military jury Thursday to 5 1/2 years in prison for supporting terrorism, a far shorter term than demanded by government prosecutors. The judge gave Salim Ahmed Hamdan credit for five years and one month of his pretrial incarceration at Guantanamo Bay, making him eligible for release from custody in five months, the Post reports.

“The sentence was a stunning rebuke to prosecutors who had insisted on a prison term of at least 30 years and portrayed Hamdan throughout the trial as a hardened al-Qaeda warrior. The jury of six military officers convicted him Wednesday of supporting al-Qaeda by driving and guarding bin Laden and ferrying weapons for the terror group, but he was acquitted of terror conspiracy.”

The world first became fully aware of Osama bin Laden 10 years ago today, The National Reports. On August 7, 1998 simultaneous car bombs exploded at the US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya killing hundreds, a report in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) newspaper says. “Responsibility for the atrocities was claimed by bin Laden and his al Qa’eda organization. The attacks were supposedly a protest against the presence of US troops in Saudi Arabia following the first Gulf War, and Israel’s suppression of Palestinians with American collusion. It was precisely the type of notoriety bin Laden was looking for, having declared war on the US two years prior.
Al Qa’eda had been responsible for several other attacks meant to punish or terrorise the US, including the 1993 lorry bombing of the World Trade Center, and two attacks on American targets in Saudi Arabia in 1995 and 1996. But the death toll and the spectacular nature of the embassy bombings put bin Laden on the front page of every newspaper in the world.

The group’s efforts continued with several more spectacles of carnage. In 2000 the USS Cole, a US destroyer, was targeted off the coast of Yemen. Seventeen soldiers and sailors were killed. And on September 11, 2001 the world was again rocked when three passenger airliners were flown into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, killing thousands. The next day George Bush appeared before the US Congress and declared war on terror — the war that bin Laden had been looking for.
Much has happened in the first 10 years of this war, so much so that it can be hard now to recall the sense of security that prevailed in the mid-1990s, the Cold War having ended at the beginning of the decade. Real wars have taken place in Afghanistan and Iraq. The Taliban and Saddam Hussein have both been overthrown. Terrorist bombs have killed hundreds in Bali, Madrid and London – and even more in Iraq.”
Read the entire story by going to www.thenational.ae

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.”

Midwest Airlines pilot Gerald Earwood was flying about 100 miles west of New York when he first noticed what seemed like wisps of smoke coming off the World Trade Center, according to a story in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal.
“Roughly 15 minutes later, Earwood and co-pilot Eric Fjelstad were frantically maneuvering their DC-9 jet to avoid colliding with United Airlines Flight 175, the second airplane to hit the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. Their work, following orders from air traffic controllers, saved the lives of about 30 passengers and five crew members of Midwest Flight 7.

A minute or so later, United 175 - which also came close to colliding with other planes that morning - struck the south tower of the World Trade Center.

A collision between United 175, flying out of Boston, and the Midwest jet, flying from Milwaukee to New York’s LaGuardia Airport, “would have changed history,” Earwood said in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, his first newspaper interview about the incident.

“Yeah, I’ve thought about it numerous times,” Earwood said. “But I never knew, and to this day I still don’t know, how close we came.”

The near collision is among several stories told in the new book, “Touching History: The Untold Story of the Drama that Unfolded in the Skies Over America on 9/11,” by Lynn Spencer. The book, published by Simon & Schuster, tells how airline pilots, air traffic controllers and military pilots reacted to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

Spencer, a commercial pilot and Milwaukee-area native, interviewed controllers, Federal Aviation Administration officials, military pilots and civilian pilots, including Earwood.

The story of Midwest Flight 7 is among the most compelling in the book, which also features one other story of a Midwest jet that was diverted from Newark, N.J., to Pittsburgh during the chaos of that morning.”

A furious debate over terrorism, security and the rule of law broke out on Tuesday as the presidential campaigns of Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama exchanged pointed salvos over who could best keep the nation safe, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

“The latest eruption began when John McCain’s top foreign policy and national security adviser, Randy Scheunemann, said in a conference call with reporters that Obama was displaying a “Sept. 10 mindset” about how best to fight terrorism - a comment that echoed President Bush’s attacks on Sen. John Kerry during the 2004 campaign.

Obama brushed off the criticism aboard his campaign plane, and questioned the McCain campaign’s standing to debate anti-terrorism policy.

“These are the same guys who helped to engineer the distraction of the war in Iraq at a time when we could’ve pinned down the people who actually committed 9/11,” he said.

It was the most heated back-and-forth yet in a debate that began last week when the Supreme Court ruled that the detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have the right to challenge their detention in federal court. Obama praised the court’s decision as a return to the rule of law, while McCain excoriated it, saying that it could make America less safe, although the Republican candidate’s comments were a reminder of the complexities of his own past positioning on Guantanamo detainees,” the newspaper reported.

The New York Times says it has added a new biographical sketch of a Sept. 11 victim to the online archive of “Portraits of Grief,” the paper’s effort to chronicle the lives of all those lost in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

Until this week, the last new sketch had been added in 2003. In all, after the attacks, 140 of the paper’s reporters spent more than a year writing about more than 2,400 of that day’s roughly 2,800 victims.

The sketches — which often focused on one aspect of a victim’s life, and were not called obituaries both because of their approach and brevity — first appeared three days after the attacks. They filled one or more pages of The Times every day for four months in the fall of 2001, then weekly for most of the following year. The last two pages appeared several months apart. The profiles were collected in two books, a hardcover and a paperback, both of which are now out of print.

Victims were not included for a number of reasons: sometimes their families did not want to be involved; at other times survivors simply could not be found.