The Top Ten Connections Between
NIST and Nano-Thermites

KEVIN R. RYAN

July 2, 2008

1. NIST was working with LLNL to test and characterize these sol-gel nano-thermites, at least as early as 1999 (Tillotson et al 1999).
   
   
2. Forman Williams, the lead engineer on NIST's advisory committee, and the most prominent engineering expert for Popular Mechanics, is an expert on the deflagration of energetic materials and the "ignition of porous energetic materials" (Margolis and Williams 1996, Telengator et al 1998, Margolis and Williams 1999). Nano-thermites are porous energetic materials. Additionally, Williams' research partner, Stephen Margolis, has presented at conferences where nano-energetics are the focus (Gordon 1999). Some of Williams' other colleagues at the University of California San Diego, like David J. Benson, are also experts on nano-thermite materials (Choi et al 2005, Jordan et al 2007).
   
   
3. Science Applications International (SAIC) is the DOD and Homeland Security contractor that supplied the largest contingent of non-governmental investigators to the NIST WTC investigation. SAIC has extensive links to nano-thermites, developing and judging nano-thermite research proposals for the military and other military contractors, and developing and formulating nano-thermites directly (Army 2008, DOD 2007). SAIC's subsidiary Applied Ordnance Technology has done research on the ignition of nanothermites with lasers (Howard et al 2005).
   In an interesting coincidence, SAIC was the firm that investigated the 1993 WTC bombing, boasting that -- "After the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, our blast analyses produced tangible results that helped identify those responsible (SAIC 2004)." And the coincidences with this company don't stop there, as SAIC was responsible for evaluating the WTC for terrorism risks in 1986 as well (CRHC 2008). SAIC is also linked to the late 1990s security upgrades at the WTC, the Rudy Giuliani administration, and the anthrax incidents after 9/11, through former employees Jerome Hauer and Steven Hatfill.
   
   
4. Arden Bement, the metallurgist and expert on fuels and materials who was nominated as director of NIST by President George W. Bush in October 2001, was former deputy secretary of defense, former director of DARPA's office of materials science, and former executive at TRW.
   Of course, DOD and DARPA are both leaders in the production and use of nano-thermites (Amptiac 2002, DOD 2005). And military and aerospace contractor TRW has had a long collaboration with NASA laboratories in the development of energetic materials that are components of advanced propellants, like nano-gelled explosive materials (NASA 2001). TRW Aeronautics also made fireproof composites and high performance elastomer formulations, and worked with NASA to make energetic aerogels.
   Additionally, Bement was a professor at Purdue and MIT. Purdue has a thriving program for nano-thermites (Son 2008). And interestingly, at MIT's Institute for Soldier Nanotechnology, we find Martin Z. Bazant, son of notable "conspiracy debunker" Zdenek P. Bazant (MIT 2008), who does research on granular flows, and the electrochemical interactions of silicon. Zdenek P. Bazant is interested in nanocomposites as well (Northwestern 2008), and how they relate to naval warfare (ONR 2008). MIT was represented at nano-energetics conferences as early as 1998 (Gordon 1998).
   Bement was also a director at both Battelle and the Lord Corporation. Battelle (where the anthrax was made) is an organization of "experts in fundamental technologies from the five National Laboratories we manage or co-manage for the US DOE." Battelle advertises their specialization in nanocomposite coatings (Battelle 2008). The Lord Corporation also makes high-tech coatings for military applications (Lord 2008). In 1999, Lord Corp was working with the Army and NASA on "advanced polymer composites, advanced metals, and multifunctional materials" (Army 1999).
   
   
5. Hratch Semerjian, long-time director of NIST's chemical division, was promoted to acting director of NIST in November 2004, and took over the WTC investigation until the completion of the report on the towers. Semerjian is closely linked to former NIST employee Michael Zachariah, perhaps the world's most prominent expert on nano-thermites (Zachariah 2008). In fact, Semerjian and Zachariah co-authored ten papers that focus on nano-particles made of silica, ceramics and refractory particles. Zachariah was a major player in the Defense University Research Initiative on Nanotechnology (DURINT), a groundbreaking research effort for nano-thermites.
   
   
6. NIST has a long-standing partnership with NASA for the development of new nano-thermites and other nano-technological materials. In fact, Michael Zachariah coordinates this partnership (CNMM 2008).
   
   
7. In 2003, two years before the NIST WTC report was issued, the University of Maryland College Park (UMCP) and NIST signed a memorandum of understanding to develop nano-technologies like nano-thermites (NIST 2003). Together, NIST and UMCP have done much work on nano-thermites (NM[SUP]2[/SUP] 2008).
   
   
8. NIST has their own Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology (CNST 2008). Additionally, NIST's Reactive Flows Group did research on nanostructured materials and high temperature reactions in the mid-nineties (NRFG 1996).
   
   
9. Richard Gann, who did the final editing of the NIST WTC report, managed a project called "Next-Generation Fire Suppression Technology Program", both before and after 9/11. Andrzej Miziolek, another of the world's leading experts on nano-thermites (Amptiac 2002), is the author of "Defense Applications of Nanomaterials", and also worked on Richard Gann's fire suppression project (Gann 2002). Gann's project was sponsored by DOD's Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP), an organization that sponsored a number of LLNL's nano-thermite projects (Simpson 2002, Gash et al 2003).
   
   
10. As part of the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer, NIST partners with the Naval Surface Warfare Center at Indian Head (NSWC-IH) on Chemical Science and Technology (FLCTT 2008). NSWC-IH is probably the most prominent US center for nano-thermite technology (NSWC 2008). In 1999, Jan Puszynski, a scientist working for the DURINT program, helped NSWC-IH design a pilot plant to produce nano-size aluminum powder. It was reported that "At that time, this was [the] only reliable source of aluminum nanopowders in the United States" (SDSMT 2001), however, private companies like Argonide and Technanogy were also known to have such capabilities.
    Among an interesting group of contractors that NSWC-IH hired in 1999 were SAIC, Applied Ordnance, Battelle, Booz Allen Hamilton, Mantech, Titan, Pacific Scientific Energetic (see below), and R Stresau Laboratories for "demolition materials" (NSWC 2000).
    A tragic coincidence left William Caswell, an employee of NSWC-IH, dead on the plane said to have hit the Pentagon (Flight 77). He had for many years worked on "deep-black" projects at NSWC-IH (Leaf 2007).
    

References

Martin White Wrote:Channel 5 in the UK just ran a new program, "Missing Evidence". The idea behind this guff was that the liquid metal running seen from the building was molten aluminium. This molten aluminium then reacted with water from various sources, including the sprinklers, causing the explosions that caused the collapses.

it starts off with a NYFD survivor who says he doesn't know a single firefighter who gives any credence to what the program calls "outlandish conspiracy theories".

Then some expert says that he's done some transfer of momentum calculations and it was inevitable that the collapse of one floor would have caused the collapse of the lower floors.

The "scientist" says that the planes didn't disintegrate on impact, as NIST claimed, but turned into molten aluminium. It finishes by saying that molten aluminium is "the only" explanation for the explosions reported by firefighters.

Funnily enough this piece of crap investigative journalism never mentions building 7. Nor does it even mention the explosions at ground level which were measured seismically.

no mention of the traces of thermite found in the dust.

No mention of the fires that burned underwater for weeks.

all in all, the usual dishonest rubbish designed to fool the ignorant.

Drew Phipps Wrote:Steam explosions (where water comes into contact with anything super hot) probably wouldn't have enough energy to seriously affect concrete reinforced steel columns. IMHO have at best extremely localized effects.


The kind of explosion where aluminum oxidizes quickly in the presence of water releases more energy (because it includes chemical energy) but would leave aluminum oxide residue everywhere. Anyone remember if the WTC dust contained a signifigant amount of aluminum oxide? Also IMHO you would basically need vaporized molten aluminum to interact quickly with the water, which certainly seems possible during a high energy collision but wouldn't stick around very long. Certainly not for an hour or so. The aluminum would quickly cool from a vaporized state.

Also, I'm guessing the fact that you can watch the molten whatever it is drip out of the building and fall thru the air (containing oxygen) without some sort of additional pyrotechnic display means that the molten metal isn't aluminum, or for whatever reason it isn't oxidizing quickly enough to do any real damage aside from the heat.