thedarkoverlord — 9/11 “Layer 1” and “Layer 2” Overview
See the first part of the series here reviewing the “Preview Documents” part of the release. For background, see the original announcement on Pastebin (removed, now on busy.org) or this convenient Motherboard article.
The entire archive was intended by thedarkoverlord to be released progressively, by their intent, based purely on revenue received. For various reasons which I won’t analyse here, we have now got access up to Layer 2.
The volume of documents is relatively enormous for a single individual to review. In the future I hopefully would like to write additional articles about aspects of what we have gotten access to so far. This story is so far merely an overview of some of what exists in the trove of documents currently unlocked.
Highlights from Layer 1
Relatively speaking, Layer 1 was still dense with a lot of legal orders and filings, and none of these stood out from a cursory reading. These filings appear to cover the 21 MC 97 (AKH), 21 MC 101 (AKH), and associated cases.
What was most notable from Layer 1 are a number of text files containing depositions in these cases of screeners and other people apparently directly involved with airport security and had potentially interacted directly or indirectly with the hijackers on the day of September 11. For example,
25 Q. In between the time that Atta first
0084
1 BARBARA ANN FOSTER - CONFIDENTIAL
2 went through the magnetometer and the time that
3 Al Omari picked up his bag, is there anything
4 that you can remember that you haven't told us?
5 A. No.
6 Q. Do you remember person D going
7 through?
8 A. Person D? No, no.
9 Q. So there's something about Atta and
10 Al Omari that stood out in your mind --
11 A. Yeah, the blue shirt.
12 Q. Is there anything else about Atta
13 that you can recall thinking, other than that
14 you thought he was having a bad day?
15 A. No.
16 Q. And the scowl?
17 A. Pardon?
18 Q. And the scowl?
19 A. Yeah. No, I thought he was having
20 a bad day.Highlights from Layer 2
As promised, Layer 2 proved to be far more interesting. There are further instances of “highly confidential” depositions, some just including “confidential SSI material” briefly and others completely marked as such. The latter depositions include an in-depth examination of checkpoint security procedures at the time of September 11, 2001, analyses of the CAPPS computer-based passenger screening system and the data factors driving an analysis of a passenger.
Additionally, the PDFs provide some further fascinating reading. There is a lengthy FBI faxed document on the hijackers details with their known addresses, phone numbers, credit card numbers; hijacker ticket data and accompanying depositions elucidating the notations on the ticket data; lengthy documentation on checkpoint standard operating procedures and the Air Carrier Standard Security Program.
From a legal perspective excerpts from the United States v. Moussaoui case are in Layer 2, which hopefully should provide some interesting information with further reading. Documents with crossed-out Top Secret markings are in Layer 2, which appear to be conclusions and findings from the joint Congressional investigation into the intelligence community’s foreknowledge of Al-Qaeda’s involvement into 9/11.
More startlingly, we have a significant number of emails between Boeing staff includes Boeing-proprietary data about mass property data and other technical information about the aircraft.
Analysis
Layer 2 appears to be truly enormous: indeed, there are 7566 files in Layer 2 where Layer 1 only had 500. It will take some time to analyze for interesting new facts, human stories, and information.
However, these documents must be viewed in the same lens as described in my first analysis: this document dump is primarily legal in nature, and these documents are in fact exhibits to a lawsuit. Some of these documents and exhibits are publicly available — indeed, a letter to Robert Mueller in Layer 2 insinuating a ‘“cover up” would be too strong a characterization’ — is already publicly available. A copy of the 9/11 Commission Report included in Layer 2 matches exactly to that accessible on the commission website. Indeed, it is likely that some of the legal filings in this document dump are available on PACER (but in contrast, these filing documents are freely available). It is entirely possible that the documents with the crossed out Top Secret markings as mentioned above are publicly available somewhere, but I was not currently able to confirm that.
Even the depositions — which I am assessing as the most intriguing aspect of the releases so far for their aspect into the personal involvement in 9/11 events — do not necessarily establish any facts themselves, but provide key insights into the legal/investigative thoughts and theories during the deposition with a degree of “reading between the lines”.
That being said, Layer 2 is providing far more intriguing insights into the legal processes surrounding the 9/11 lawsuits as well as a piercing human interest story in the depositions of the closely-involved security screeners in Layer 1. Some of the data in the provided exhibits are astonishing in its detail, and I hope to publish further investigations in what might be found as time passes. One can only imagine what the subsequent layers may contain.
