Pentagon investigation leader, Paul Mlakar, obstructed investigation in New Orleans, according to UC Berkeley professor

In October of 2007, a letter was written to Dr. William F. Marcuson, President of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), by Professor Raymond B. Seed of the of the UC Berkeley department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Professor Seed was very concerned about the ASCE and obstruction of the investigation into the breakage of levees in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. That obstruction was coordinated by Dr. Paul Mlakar of the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), who claimed that his assignment was to "spar" with the independent investigators.

Mlakar is well known by independent investigators, as he was one of the four engineers who conducted the FEMA "investigation" into the bombing of the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City in 1995. The other three were Gene Corley, Charles Thornton, later of the NIST WTC Advisory Committee, and Mete Sozen, who has been a leading spokesman for the official story about the WTC.

Mlakar also led the ASCE investigation at the Pentagon after 9/11, along with Sozen.

Professor Seed, who led one of the independent investigations into the breaking of the levees in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, claimed that Paul Mlakar obstructed his investigation. Below are some relevant quotes from the letter, but the entire letter is well worth reading.

"These past two years, both the USACE and ASCE have been dishonored by the unacceptable, and even unfathomable, actions of a few. These are two of the most important civil engineering organizations in the world. If that cannot be reversed and repaired, and if recurrence cannot be prevented, then the ethics and the very soul of the Profession are in peril."

"Two of the Corps field team escorting us around were different, however; their role was to keep the Corps personnel from speaking too openly with the rest of us and thus potentially spilling any beans."

"The problem was: the “deal” between them and the Corps was such that our field teams were not permitted to have learned anything while in the field."

"In the end, Larry and John, along with Dr. Mlakar, put their foot down; if we did not all “play ball”, then the further planned field work of the “week two” teams already beginning to arrive would be cancelled. A direct threat to the two investigations."

"Cover-up!!...A bit later, the active ASCE members in that room considered resigning (from ASCE) in protest."

"Larry Roth explained to me back in September that ASCE had been ingloriously kicked out from the 9/11 investigation of the World Trade Centerr, and that they had learned their lesson and would never again make those same mistakes.

"At the end of the session, Sen. Collins leveled her formidable stare nearly directly at poor Paul and said something very close to the following: “Dr. Mlakar, I understand that you have been sent here to tell us nothing. As a good soldier, you have done thatadmirably. I want you to go back and tell those who sent you, however, that this committee will not tolerate that, and that we will also not tolerate continued failure on the part of the Corps to provide requested documents and data to these other investigation teams.”

"Led jointly by Larry Roth and Dr. Paul Mlakar, the mantra was repeatedly espoused at the first ERP meeting that the investigation “would look only forward”; there would be no looking back, and no consideration of fault or blame."

"Now, we were informed, that all we needed was final clearance from some fellow named Dr. Paul Mlakar."

"It was also during this period that we learned more than we wanted to know about ASCE’s being expelled from the 9/11 World Trade Center investigation....to put an end to what they viewed as a cover-up masquerading as an investigation."

"I have met personally with faculty from our Civil Engineering Department here at Berkeley, and also with faculty at the University of Maryland, who had NSF grants for investigations of the World Trade Center disaster and who assure me that this was, at several stages, a very bad business indeed."

"And at least one member of our Department’s structural engineering faculty feels that the investigation of the 1996 Oklahoma City bombing, which ASCE was involved in (for a reported fee of $1 million in that case), was less than fully rigorous with regard to both the vulnerability of the Murrah Federal Building to lateral blast forces, and its propensity for collapse if damaged."

"In his view, it is generally known within the high end of the structural engineering community that the investigation of that event was “a bit of a cover-up” (his choice of wording.) I would perhaps not mention this, except that nearly a year ago I learned that Dr. Paul Mlakar (of the Corps) was also much involved in that investigation."

"[Mlakar] had told them that a significant portion of his assignment was to “spar” with the two independent investigation teams....“Sparring” or otherwise obstructing the independent investigations was inexcusable behavior in my view....And shame on Dr. Mlakar, and those that apparently continued to send him."

"Indeed a coordinated campaign appears to be still underway to partially re-write history and to downplay some of the key issues. And ASCE (at least at the HQ level) appears to be deeply involved in this still ongoing effort."

"An investigation should be undertaken to determine how this came to pass, and who within ASCE was responsible (unless this is already known). Those responsible should be fired, or removed from office....ASCE should publish an apology to the people of the New Orleans region, to the Nation, and to the Profession."

"There is no way that I can simply do nothing, and allow the worst of the actions of the past two years to pass, and appear to be condoned at the highest of levels within two of the most important civil engineering institutions in the world....People depend on engineers to get it right, and nothing less than full effort, and dedication to public safety above all else, is acceptable."

Prof. Raymond Seed wrote one hell of a letter!!

42 pages (single spaced)
The letter cites many examples of corruption, connivance, collusion, obfuscation, retaliation, retribution, etc.
http://aquadoc.typepad.com/files/katrina_and_soul_of_the_profession.pdf

Page 6
"...Larry Roth had explained to me back in early September that ASCE had been ingloriously kicked out from the 911 investigation of the World Trade Center, and that they had learned their lesson and would never again make those same mistakes... ...What he meant was that a non disclosure clause that had been inserted into ASCE’s health and safety waiver/form for forensic investigations... ...Buried...was a very strong and binding non-disclosure clause..."

"...The People of the Nation, and their elected leaders, must know with full assurance that the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) can be counted upon... ...to tell only the unvarnished truth. Even in the most trying of circumstances."

The P.S.S. at the end of the letter is telling...
"..we were advised by a pair of former Federal prosecutors... ...with regard to the protection of our team members, our families, and our firms and institutions. ...to cross-share the very most critical and volatile information and data... ...So that if anything untoward happened to anyone, the response could be expected to be unstoppable and to outweigh any temporary benefit that might be achieved by untoward acts."

Some other related links

Visibility 911: A dozen Questons about Flight 77 from Kevin Ryan
http://911blogger.com/news/2010-10-17/visibility-911-dozen-questons-abou...

Some of Kevin's writings and presentations...
http://www.ultruth.com/Kevin_Ryan.htm

Paul Mlakar
In my book, his name is mud. I am glad that his name comes up at 911blogger on "google searches".

Article about Dr. Paul F. Mlakar
http://www.erdc.usace.army.mil/pls/erdcpub/www_org_info.show_page?f_id=6...

Article about the offical Pentagon storyline and Paul Mlakar
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0103/012303a1.htm

45 page .pdf with GRAPHICS (and Paul Mlakar's name) entitled: THE PENTAGON BUILDING PERFORMANCE REPORT
http://fire.nist.gov/bfrlpubs/build03/PDF/b03017.pdf

Mlakar helped to write "The Handbook for Blast-Resistant Design of Buildings"
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9780470549070.fmatter/pdf

"History Commons" and Paul Mlakar
http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=paul_mlakar_1
" ...Mlakar and Sozen had previously worked together on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) investigation into the Oklahoma City bombing under W. Gene Corley, who is now assigned as FEMA/ASCE’s team leader for the World Trade Center investigation..."

The Building Performance Study team only inspects the Pentagon on two occasions. Team leader Mlakar is granted “limited access” to the site for a week from September 14-21, and on October 4, “controlled access” is granted to the full team, which meets with Corley and inspects the site “for approximately four hours.” All airplane debris has been removed by this time, as well as most of the loose debris from the impact and collapse. Along with interviews and technical information provided by the Pentagon Renovation Project, the photos and data gleaned on these visits are the basis of the team’s analysis of the building’s response to the impact of Flight 77. The study is completed in April 2002, though the report will not be released for another nine months.

This Mantra is popular and widely utilized

"the mantra was repeatedly espoused at the first ERP meeting that the investigation “would look only forward”; there would be no looking back, and no consideration of fault or blame."

Raymond B. Seed- "There is no way that I can simply do nothing, and allow the worst of the actions of the past two years to pass, and appear to be condoned at the highest of levels within two of the most important civil engineering institutions in the world....People depend on engineers to get it right, and nothing less than full effort, and dedication to public safety above all else, is acceptable."

I would hope that UC Berkeley department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, knowing what they know, will continue to investigate the COVER UP MASTERS.

Kevin, I think it would be profitable to contact the Berkeley Team.

Who were in the Pentagon west wing?

Looking for the lost 2.3 Trillion dollars.... First off, Donald Rumsfeld announced on September 10, 2001, that the Pentagon has lost 2.3 Trillion dollars. A rather large sum of money, yet the story quickly disappeared.
Here's a link to a CBS story on it:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/01/29/eveningnews/main325985.shtml

As I understand it, the two units that were actually impacted by the plane that hit the Pentagon happened to be the Office of Naval Intelligence and a group of accountants who were trying to track down the $2.3 Trillion. Is this correct?

Might the insiders who plotted this attack on the Pentagon have deliberately selected this exact portion to be hit in order to destroy the records that would track down the trillions they themselves had stolen? Just as the destruction of WTC 7 destroyed SEC records into stolen funds and corporate malefeasance.

And could Rumsfeld's announcement the day before have been an attempt to offer some "accountability" for the missing money, knowing the story would be killed the next day along with the accountants/records. Then when a small portion is later "recovered", Rumsfeld and company would look like good guys when in fact they had stolen the lion's share.

Who were hit

See this and this (click the map).

S.C.

Thanks. I had a brief discussion with Gregg Roberts in D.C. about this topic. I believe he had a hand in the research for those links you provided. Pretty compelling evidence to me that whatever hit the Pentagon was being controlled remotely.

This wasn't merely a stand-down to allow a terrorist to possibly fly into the Pentagon... and possibly dive-bomb the top which would put Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, etc. at risk. The Pentagon HAD to be hit. This is what allowed the Bush administration to declare 9/11 an "act of war" and to put a lid on any real investigation into what happened. It maximized the pretext and enabled Bush to set forth his doctrine that you are "either with us or you're with the enemy." (Psyop).

Rumsfeld was absolutely confident that he was safe and even boasted during his breakfast meeting that there's more to come. "This isn't over yet." An inside operation would be tightly controlled. They would not rely upon a hack pilot to possibly miss his target or threaten the brass. This portion of Wedge 1 woud kill three birds with one stone: 1) Minimize fatalities. 2) Protect the top brass. 3) Take out the records. While providing the justification for calling 9/11 an act of war.

This is SOOO good RL McGee...

...a discussion about the Pentagon that does not include some established "What Hit It Theory"...

I really appreciate Truthers who have backed away from the SHRAPNEL surrounding the Penatgon "whatever"...and have begun to RELOOK into the larger picture of events at the Pentagon.

BTW...I crossed paths with some info that the USN had its own capacity to "defend their ops" at the Pentagon...and that the Navy's Intel Agency was a tad "renegade" and a bit hard to "get in line" to Rummie's initiatives...and that the USN's defenses were ALSO "stood down". This is all third hand at the moment...but some good corridors of inquiry still need investigation.

Too bad that "Pilots" is so infiltrated...we could certainly use some solid actions by some Naval Officers who are concerned about the US military being misused as a result of the attacks on 9/11.

9/11 Truth for World Peace and Justice...

Robin Hordon
Kingston, WA

before the fact

Coleen Rowley and Bogdan Dzakovic in the LA times write about what if there were a Wikileaks back then:

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-rowley-wikileaks-20...

the Mumbai attack