Richard Rotanz saw an elevator that had been blown out of its shaft in Building 7
The momentum continues to build towards a new investigation into the events of September 11, 2001. And the latest boost to this effort comes with the news that a high-ranking emergency management official who played a key role at Ground Zero has added his name to the call for a new presidential investigation into 9/11.
Richard Rotanz, a retired FDNY fire captain and First Deputy Commissioner of the Office of Emergency Management (Nassau County) in 2001 (with his office in World Trade Center 7), has added his name to a document produced by members of the 9/11 Truth Movement at the request of former congressman Curt Weldon.
The text offers a summary of the evidence for the controlled demolition of the three WTC towers. Weldon intends to use the document to lobby the Trump administration to create a presidential commission that would investigate the events of that day.
In his impressive career, Rotanz has been a program manager in New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene; executive director of the Applied Science Foundation for Homeland Security; and co-developer of Adelphi University’s graduate degree in Emergency Management. With the FDNY, he worked their Safety Command and with Special Operations Command. With the OEM, he was responsible for research and planning, and he organized and managed the emergency operations center during major events.
On September 11, he and his staff had to dig their way out of the North Tower (he was thrown 20 feet and suffered a concussion when the South Tower came down). They then relocated the destroyed emergency operation center to Pier 92, where he managed the multi-organization response to 9/11 of over 120 agencies, organizations, and businesses.
Retired Seattle Fire Captain Raul Angulo, who coordinated the writing of the Weldon document, says that Rotanz entered WTC 7 after the plane impacts, accompanied by two colleagues. Once inside, they found serious damage, including an elevator that appeared to have been blown right out of its shaft.
“We really don’t have any firefighters who were eyewitnesses to the events in Building 7,” Angulo says. “He has a most unique perspective.”
Angulo adds that while Rotanz has not endorsed the idea that explosives were planted in the buildings, he has become convinced that there are enough unanswered questions about the WTC destruction that a new investigation is needed.
“Rotanz gives our position a tremendous amount of credibility, and his support validates the questions we are posing about the World Trade Center.”
It was through an article that Angulo wrote for International Fire & Safety Journal about the destruction of WTC 7 that Weldon came to connect with the Truth Movement. And it is through this same article that Rotanz came to question what really happened to the building. This, in turn, led Rotanz to sign on to the Weldon document.
In addition to Angulo, the Weldon document’s authors feature well-known voices in the 9/11 Truth Movement – including Roland Angle, Kamal Obeid, Richard Gage, Leory Hulsey, David Chandler, Barbara Honegger, Mick Harrison, Paul Kayley, Erik Lawyer, and Christopher Gioia.
Things continue to move fast in this unprecedented collaborative effort to get a new 9/11 investigation. And we’ll keep you updated as every new development happens.
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Craig McKee is a writer for Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth and the creator of the blogs Truth and Shadows and Thought Crimes and Misdemeanors. He also hosts the Truth and Shadows podcast on YouTube and Rumble.
