Supports· decisiveSEP-E008
The court record: 68,500 files withheld, upheld under the statute
- what the source states
- "On July 9, 2009, the Director of NIST issued a formal finding pursuant to the NCSTA providing that the public disclosure of certain information gathered by NIST in connection with its investigation into the collapse of the WTC 7 building 'might jeopardize public safety.'" On the counts: "Overall, NIST produced a total of 25,644 data files responsive to Quick's request and withheld a total of 68,500 data files." On the rationale: "the withheld data files contain information that could be used to predict the collapse of a building and, if made available to a person with the appropriate level of expertise, would provide instruction to individuals wanting to learn how to simulate building collapses and how to most effectively destroy large buildings."
- what we infer
- Establishes that the central mechanism claim cannot be independently recomputed, and that this was a deliberate decision with a stated rationale a court accepted. The rationale is coherent; it is also exactly what makes SEP-C003 unauditable, and both things are true at once.
- limitations
- The opinion's own figures do not reconcile: 25,644 released plus 68,500 withheld against 91,114 described as potentially responsive.
- The court decided the lawfulness of the withholding, not the adequacy of the underlying model.