Triumph of Reason Forensics

by Groff Schroeder

The Greek philosopher Archimedes first employed the methods of science in the investigation of an alleged crime. While the modern mythology of the invention of forensic science involves a gold crown, a possibly dishonest goldsmith, a bathtub and exclamations of “Eureka” as Archimedes supposedly ran naked through the street, the true story is probably a bit more complicated.¹

Some 2200 years later, incredibly detailed, highly public scientific investigations including systematic preservation of the crime scene, thorough photographic documentation, careful (even microscopic) evidence collection, the maintenance of an evidentiary chain of custody and painstaking scientific analysis have become de rigueur in the investigation of almost every crime. Forensics can help to identify the sources of engineering failures (preventing future problems), can identify clever perpetrators evading responsibility and has helped the American People to become very familiar with Due Process of Law. Fatal celebrity misadventures, petty criminal acts, heinous murders, hijackings, airliner crashes and building collapses fueled countless sensationalized news reports, TV documentaries and advanced textbooks - until September 11, 2001, when intensely public, highly detailed scientific forensic investigation suddenly stopped.

Instead of careful and systematic evidence protection and gathering at the crime scene (what the surviving firefighters called “the site”), “clean up” of “ground zero” (formerly meaning the center of a nuclear blast) began immediately - despite what we now know (and the government knew then) were incredibly dangerous air quality conditions. Although no steel frame building ever collapsed before (or since) due to fire, World Trade Center steel, (whose thorough analysis should have contributed to numerous textbooks and scientific reports - especially the super-sized steel of WTC 7) was quickly removed from its evidentiary context and melted down. The National Transportation Safety Board failed to investigate even one of the plane crashes, violating Federal Law. President George W. Bush personally asked Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle to limit congressional investigations² of the mass murder of almost 3000 American Citizens. There are apparently no airport security videos of the alleged hijackers boarding the participating aircraft. It remains difficult to access useful information about the crime scene. The list goes on.

A Congressional investigation, performed in secret by the same alphabet soup of agencies that failed the People of the United States on 9/11 was apparently not operational in May 2002 and much of their December 2002 report remains “redacted” (secret) even today. On November 27, 2002, enduring public demands finally forced the initiation of a public investigation. After Henry Kissinger resigned the directorship to avoid “conflict of interest,”³ Philip Zelikow (Condoleeza Rice’s “intellectual soul mate”⁴) became the director. It was not until April 2004 that President Bush “answered every question [the independent commission] posed to him” about the attacks – and then not under oath, with Vice President Cheney by his side and without a stenographer or recording equipment⁵ - not exactly standard operating procedure.

Almost no forensic investigation of the “new Pearl Harbor” in New York City on September 11, 2001 took place. If standard forensic procedure and Due Process of Law founded the investigation, many of the events of September 11, 2001 would not be mysterious anomalies inducing questions and speculation, but a matter of public record providing useful architecture, aviation, criminal, engineering, legal, metallurgical and structural information for the future.