Originally written on December, 2007. Later updates indicated with red Update marking. Latest updates on December, 2008.



Richard Gage: The Architect

Who exactly is Richard Gage? He is an AIA Architect and the founding member of AE911Truth.org.

From his website : “Gage has been a practicing Architect for 20 years and has worked on most types of building construction including numerous fire-proofed steel-framed buildings. He is employed with a San Francisco Bay Area architecture firm and has most recently performed Construction Administration services for a new $120M High School campus including a $10M steel-framed Gymnasium. Currently he is working on the Design Development for a very large mixed use urban project with 1.2M sq.ft. of retail and 320K sq.ft. of high-rise office space — altogether about 1,200 tons of steel framing.”

But there is no CV or any detailed description of his work experience. That’s strange, since he is considered as one of the experts of the 9/11 truth movement. It sure would be nice to know more about his credentials.

Well, luckily his CV is publicly available on another website. The CV is last updated on March, 2007. So we get a quite recent description of his experience. Let’s take a closer look, shall we.

Richard Gage Curriculum Vitae:

First, the summary: “ 24 years professional architectural experience (19 yrs Licenced) including public, commercial, industrial, institutional, rapid transit, civil defense and residential typologies, with the last 17 years as lead Project Architect role in addition to 5 years as Principal of a small Architecture practice.”

17 years experience as lead Project Architect role. Fair enough.

Qualifications: “Extensive experience in project management leading Design Development, Construction Documents, Bidding and Construction Administration phases; in-depth research into uncommon building types and technologies; coordination, engineering disciplines and municipal agencies; rigorous building code analysis and expertise in CA T24/ADA; Excellent leadership and interpersonal skills; Proficient writer and speaker.”

Proficient writer and speaker? We’ll get into that later.

Experience: “Responsibility as lead Project Architect on the following projects performing all of the following activities:

Extensive coordination with Clients, project Budgeting & Scheduling, Design Development, Construction Document (usually leading about 5 staff); Life Safety & T24/ADA Code Analysis; Coordination of all Consultants - Geotechnical, Structural, Mechanical, Electrical, Acoustical, Landscape and Civil consultants, Utility Co’s, Coordination with City, County and State Agencies throughout Planning and Building Permit acquisition; Development of & cross-coordination of

Specifications; and Construction Administration.”

It has become quite clear now, that Gage is a Project Architect. Coordination seems to be the main thing.

But his detailed work experience? It’s all here. We will not go through it in great detail, but here are the main observations:

· He has been involved in 4 projects with his current employer:

o A Dougherty Valley High School Project,

o Main Gym and Auxilliary Gym

o ADA Upgrades Project for the Acalanes Union High School District,

o Acalanes H.S. – New Wing 500, Storage Buildings, Tennis Courts, Parking Lots, & Fields Renovation

· His current employer is not found by the ZIP code search of the AIA website. Indication of a small firm?

· His earlier projects in order (newest first, starting from Sept, 2001) include the following:

o A Lecture Hall building

o The remodel of 2 historic former Waves barracks

o 5-building 38,000 s.f. $4M retail center

o 7 retail restaurant tenant improvements

o Livermore City Hall – a 2-story concrete/steel framed complete building renovation/addition

o Animal Care & Adoption facility

o 2-Story 2-Building 24-Unit wood framed condominium project

o 11 new Classroom buildings at 11 different schools, including remodeling of existing class rooms

o Shell Oil Gas Station Remodel

o The Courtyard Shopping Center

o Bay Avenue Commercial Center - 136,000 s.f. combination new & remodeled shopping complex

o Yard Birds Shopping Center

o Mikes Auto Body

o 1st Nationwide Bank - Complete Remodel of 5,000 s.f. Bank branch

o The Carlyle Apartments - A 23-Building 372-Unit Multi-family Housing Complex including a 3-story, 36-unit Building which occur on-grade and on Podium above the S3 Parking Garages, the 2-story Villa Buildings with individual Garages, and all accessory buildings

o HealthWays Medical Clinics tenant improvements

o Sanwa Bank

o 6,000 s.f. Type-V restaurant

o Peralta Warehouse

o Carpeteria - renovation of 16,300 s.f. Type-V concrete tilt-up building

o Contra Costa Centre & Country Club Village shopping centers, as well as minor renovations at Encina Grande shopping center

o responsible for design & construction documents for 9 mining facility buildings

o Motorola factory and office complex - Tienjen, China

o Airport Terminal at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

o Euro-Disney MGM Studio Tour theme park - Backlot Express restaurant, Maintenance Building and Sound stages

o Prepared design development drawings for the Bay Area Rapid Transit stations

o Directed a team of 5 through construction documents for a 94 building Type-l California state maximum security prison complex

o Designed fallout and blast shelters for several clients over a two year period

o Remodel of a 200 room hotel

One thing that immediately catches the eye. No high-rises. We have shopping centers, halls, school projects, barracks, warehouses, etc.

Richard Gage of AE911Truth

Now that we know his experience and credentials, we can move on to the Richard Gage of the AE911Truth. Richard Gage joined the truth movement after hearing David Ray Griffin on the radio March, 2006.

The Evidence?

Gage has produced no original evidence of his own. His evidence is direct copy-paste from the works of David Ray Griffin, Jim Hoffman and Steven Jones. You can compare the evidence listed by Richard Gage at the frontpage of AE911Truth.org to the evidence presented by Griffin , Hoffman and Jones .

To critically analyze his demolition evidence, please see the paper written by Ryan Mackey http://911guide.googlepages.com/ryanmackey

or go to

http://wtc7lies.googlepages.com/nist%2Cfemareports%2C911structuralengineerin

http://911guide.googlepages.com/griffin29

http://www.debunking911.com

http://www.911myths.com/html/wtc__demolition_.html

But let's take a closer look at a couple of more absurd Gage claims:

In a very interesting statement (around 1:05:00 mark), Richard Gage suggests that “silent thermate (an advanced form of thermite)” was used to bring the WTC towers down. He then states that 118 FDNY personnel heard explosions.

"Gage: Well that's why they would have used thermite, which is a more silent, um, thermate, which is a special form of thermite with added sulfur, because obviously you wouldn't want a whole bunch of explosions to be heard, even though they were, it's not a perfect science. They have a hundred and eighteen witnesses just from those who were recorded in the oral histories."

How do you hear silent explosions? When did thermate start exploding? What are you talking about? To see what the explosions described by some firemen actually were, see here and here .

Another statement from the same debate (around 41:45 mark). Gage says about the collapse: “80.000 tons of intact, cold structural steel designed to resist exactly that load, having done that for the last 30 years, and the life-span of this building for the next 50, free-fall speed virtually..”

A short lesson. The difference between a static load and a dynamic load.

Static Load : A nonvarying load; the basal pressure exerted by the weight of a mass at rest. Also known as dead load.

Dynamic Load : A force exerted by a moving body on a resisting member, usually in a relatively short time interval. Also known as energy load.

The towers were designed to resist the static load, not the dropping hat trusses and the dynamic load.

Try this little experiment with your friend. First, ask your friend to gently place a brick on top your head. Just let it rest there. You will feel the weight of the brick, but you can live with that. Next, kneel down but ask your friend to hold the brick above your head at exactly the same height, as it was when you were standing up. Then ask your friend to drop that brick. You have experienced the difference between a static load and a dynamic load.

Gage also lists FDNY foreknowledge as partial evidence of controlled demolition of WTC 7. FDNY foreknowledge means, they knew the building was going to collapse. FDNY Chief Daniel Nigro made the decision to evacuate, he did not receive the evacuation order from some higher-ups. This means Chief Nigro had foreknowledge. This means Chief Nigro’s foreknowledge is evidence of controlled demolition. This means Chief Nigro is involved. Which is absurd.

Gage claims sounds of explosions at ground floor of WTC 7 a full second prior to collapse, were heard by hundreds of firemen and media reporters. This is simply not true. He bases this claim on this testimony , that can be listened to at his site. The testimony does not mention bombs, it does not even mention explosions, let alone mention hundreds of firemen and media reporters. It is a quote of one single person, who says: “We heard this sound that was like a clap of thunder”, which is exactly what you would expect hearing when a building collapses. One can not assume buildings collapse totally silently.

Gage also claims NIST admits that they have not analyzed and have not been able to adequately explain the Twin Towers' collapse. This is misleading. NIST says they have not been able to model the collapse. This is, quote "Because of the magnitude of deflections and the number of failures occurring, the computer models are not able to converge a solution". This is clearly explained in the NIST letter .

Update: Richard Gage seems to think that he can compare the WTC towers to boxes made of cardboard. He has used the cardboard box comparison in his lectures since the summer of 2008. He drops a smaller box of cardboard on top of a taller box of cardboard. Unsurprisingly, the taller cardboard box taking the hit does not give in to the dropping box. In his other hand he holds another small cardboard box and drops it straight to the ground. He does all this to make the point, that the WTC towers should have resisted or stopped the collapse. I am not kidding.





Here is a screen shot of Gage holding the boxes.

His cardboard box demonstration on video here. And here at about 57 seconds into the clip.











Has Produced Nothing Himself

Let’s take a look at the technical articles page over at AE911truth:

http://www.ae911truth.org/techarts.php

The amount of technical articles on this page equals to 30 as of December 26, 2007. How many of these technical articles are written by him? None of them are written by Richard Gage. No original content, no papers, no calculations have originated from Gage or AE911Truth.

And is an architect really an expert to analyze structural collapses? Apparently even Gage thinks not, because his December 2007 newsletter makes a desperate call for structural engineers: "Tell your friends, family and colleagues the truth that you know — particularly the structural engineers!" (bolding by Richard Gage).

There indeed is a shortage of actual structural engineers who claim WTC was demolished with explosives. This page lists well over 1000 certified structural engineers, certified by the Structural Engineering Certification Board (SECB) of The National Council of Structural Engineers Association. And that is just certified structural engineers in United States, Puerto Rico & Virgin Islands, certified in 2005 or later. Consider, how many thousands of more of structural engineers there are worldwide. And how many of these over 1000 certified structural engineers question the events of 9/11? You guessed it, not a single one.

Admits to Controlled Demolition Being Outside the Scope of His Expertise

See this page:

http://www.ae911truth.org/info/4

"Architects and Engineers are trained to design buildings that function well and withstand potentially destructive forces. However, the 3 high-rise buildings at the World Trade Center which ‘collapsed’ on 9/11 (the Twin Towers plus WTC Building #7) presented us with a body of evidence (i.e.controlled demolition) that was clearly outside the scope of our training and experience."

Richard Gage himself admits, that controlled demolition is clearly outside the scope of his expertise. Yet, all his evidence consists of arguments trying to prove the demolition of the 3 towers.

" Twenty-seven hundred people were murdered in what we can now safely

call demolitions," Gage said.

http://www.ae911truth.org/press/7

The AE911Truth Petition & Growth of AE911Truth.org

AE911Truth.org has a petition on their website. It is currently (December 27, 2007) signed by 231 Arhitects/Engineers and 609 other supporters. That’s 840 in total.

Everyone who wishes to join AE911Truth website, has to sign the petition. One cannot even view their discussion board without joining and thus also signing their petition.

The petition goes as follows: “On Behalf of the People of the United States of America, the undersigned Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth and affiliates hereby petition for, and demand, a truly independent investigation with subpoena power in order to uncover the full truth surrounding the events of 9/11/01 - specifically the collapse of the World Trade Center Towers and Building 7. We believe that there is sufficient doubt about the official story and therefore that the 9/11 investigation must be re-opened and must include a full inquiry into the possible use of explosives that may have been the actual cause behind the destruction of the World Trade Center Towers and WTC Building 7.”

In short, this is just another demand for a new, independent investigation.

But Richard Gage seems to think this is a very popular petition. From his letter to Mark Weitzman , dated December 8, 2007: “Maybe now you understand why our membership of architects, engineers, and other building professionals, who are all calling for a science-based forensic investigation - which has yet to be performed - is growing exponentially!”

First of all, as mentioned before, if one wishes to join AE911Truth one is forced to sign the petition.

Second, is their membership of building professionals really growing exponentially? When Richard Gage fully launced his website on May 28, 2007 a total of 48 building professionals were listed. After that moment it was quickly found out, that anyone could join their site using any credentials they wanted. You could just click “join” and put “Architect” in your credentials box.

This confusion lasted some time, so no credible membership figures can be gathered from the summer of 2007. Later, they somewhat fixed their problems, and we can get more credible figures once again (although the identity of many is still questionable).

Quite credible figures from October 16, 2007. Both this and this article list the membership figures as “Nearly 200” or “Almost 200”. We take the right to estimate a figure of 190.

In his letter to Mark Weitzman, Gage reveals his figure as of December 8, 2007: “more than 230 well-respected architects and engineers”. More than 230, could it be 231? Because the figure on December 27, 2007 is 231 (see his front page ).

So, we have the following figures:

May 28: 48 members

October 16: 190 members

December 8: 231 members

December 27: 231 members

Let’s draw a graph.

That growth is not exponential. It is linear.

The definition of exponential: “Something is said to increase or decrease exponentially if its rate of change must be expressed using exponents. A graph of such a rate would appear not as a straight line, but as a curve that continually becomes steeper or shallower.”

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/exponential

And one more interesting detail. The “recruiter” for AE911Truth is, or at least used to be, a person called Doug Plumb. He has said his views do not represent the views of AE911Truth, but they are quite interesting. Doug Plumb believes in mini-nukes at WTC. He supports Judy Wood, who says Space Beams brought the WTC towers down. About FDNY Plumb says "When they cover up evidence or imply that there were huge fires and that wtc7 was expected to collapse then that is being an accomplice. Its the same thing as murder." His views are expressed in a discussion thread here .

Update: The day after I wrote this article their membership of "building professionals" dropped from 231 to 230. It was discovered, that a man called Hans Van Willigenburg was on the membership list. His status was supposedly checked. However, Mr. Willigenburg is not an engineer or an architect. He is in fact a Dutch television and radio host. I have also received information, that their former member Cameron Porter, PHD was a made up name, and it was asked that his name should be removed. Yet, the name was listed for a long time after that request. It has now been removed.

Asking for Money

To continue their work efficiently, Gage and AE911Truth seem to need a lot of money.

http://www.ae911truth.org/sustain.php

"Our responsibilities, time commitment and expenses are growing dramatically with our increasing success. We also must purchase computers, printers, software, and handle traveling and legal expenses. Our efforts and growth cannot be sustained without your help."

" We need many thousands of dollars per month to realize our goals ."

But why do they need thousands of dollars on a monthly basis? They sure do not need new computer equipment or software every month. Traveling? I thought the event organizers usually pay for the travel costs. Does this money go to compensate for the work of the volunteers? What exactly do these volunteers do? Update the slide presentation?

Here is what it costs to become a “sustaining member”:

Pledge Level: Cost/Month: What you get with the money:

Citizen / Student $10 monthly 20 WTC Evidence and 20 Twin Towers Cards

Advocate $25 monthly DVD: 9/11 Blueprint for Truth + 20 of each card

Activist $50 monthly 2 DVD's + 50 of each card

Patriot $100 monthly 3 DVD's + 100 of each card

Statesman $250 monthly 5 DVD's + 250 of each card

Ambassador $500 monthly 10 DVD's + 500 of each card

AE911Truth Hero $911 monthly 20 DVD's + 1000 of each card

Let's see how much that makes on a yearly basis:

Pledge Level: Cost/Year: What you get with the money:

Citizen / Student $120 yearly 20 WTC Evidence and 20 Twin Towers Cards

Advocate $300 yearly DVD: 9/11 Blueprint for Truth + 20 of each card

Activist $600 yearly 2 DVD's + 50 of each card

Patriot $1200 yearly 3 DVD's + 100 of each card

Statesman $3000 yearly 5 DVD's + 250 of each card

Ambassador $6000 yearly 10 DVD's + 500 of each card

AE911Truth Hero $10932 yearly 20 DVD's + 1000 of each card

For $10932/year you can become a AE911Truth Hero. Sounds like an insanely huge amount of money, considering the reward.

If you do not prefer monthly donations, you can also make a substantial one-time donation. The only condition is, that you must donate a minimum of $100 to qualify for premium (premium = their giveaway DVD's / Evidence Cards).

Selling Products

The other money making method, selling truth products.

http://www.ae911truth.org/store.php

Over here you will find DVD’s and so called “evidence cards”.

But it’s doesn’t end there. Their December 2007 newsletter promises the following: "In addition to our flagship products our store will soon stock AE911Truth.org T-shirts, bumper stickers, and vinyl banners for responsible street action visibility. We will also stock a host of books and other DVD's. Before the year ends we will be stocking enveloped 9/11 Blueprint for Truth DVD's and audio CD's which you can buy in quantity at extremely low prices." (Update: All the above mentioned products plus more now available at AE911Truth Store; see the store link above.)

Taking People to Lunch?

This is a completely new way of making money, courtesy of AE911Truth. Taking A/E firms to lunch.

http://www.ae911truth.org/donate.php?b=mih

$9.00 Take an Architect or Engineer to Lunch!

$50.00 Take a few A/E's out to Lunch!

$90.00 Take a small A/E firm to Lunch!

$500.00 Take a medium A/E firm to Lunch!

$900.00 Take a large A/E firm to lunch!

Donate $any amount Take any size A/E firm to lunch!

How exactly does that work? The only advice the page gives you, is detailed instructions on how to make a donation. There are no instructions on how the lunch is actually arranged. If I wish to buy this lunch, I donate money.. ok.. what next..? Oh, but they do have this there: "Thank you very much for you support of the 9/11 Truth!" and a button "Contact Us", which takes you to the general "contact" page of AE911Truth. I guess that takes care of it!

And what exactly are the size limits to "small" or "medium" sized A/E firms anyway. I sure would like to know the difference, because the donation amount jumps from $90 to $500 between these two "sizes". And what is that "donate $any amount" to take any size A/E firm to lunch? If I donate $1.50 dollars, can I take a large A/E firm to lunch? I would save $898.50!

Changing Methods?

On July 11, 2007:

http://www.ae911truth.org/info/10

Unauthorized use of the AE911Truth.org name

"We have received notification of graffiti-like direct actions by independent persons not affiliated in any way with ae911truth using the ae911truth.org URL address. Although we encourage activism, we discourage and disavow intrusive and possibly unlawful activism methods, which can be counterproductive to our mission of public education, scientific investigation and research, and legal objectives like our demand for a new, Congressional investigation into the events of 9/11."

But surpsire surprise, a couple of months later, on the December 2007 newsletter :

"We Support 9/11 Truth Street Action" and "The 9/11 truthers out on the street are the heroes of this movement. Send us your AE911Truth street action photos and we will post them here."

And what photos do they have posted there? That's right, a photo of the same graffiti they said they do not want to be affiliated with.

What About the Wrong Demolition Audio?

This topic has raised many questions.

Start by visiting the ImplosionWorld Cinema . Choose the Philips building (top of the two rows, right-hand side) and watch the video. Pay particular attention when the timer gets past 10 seconds. You'll hear an explosion, see smoke shoot out from the centre base of the building, then hear another set of explosions, then the building falls. Repeat that a few times so you're familar with the timing.

Take a look at the same implosion from another angle . We don't have the same view of the base of the building this time, but you can still hear loud explosions before and after first smoke shoots out.

Now visit this page at the Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth. (Update: Gage has removed the slide)

Now there's no explosions at all, and what's more you can hear the building fall before it actually happens. It appears this version of the video has either had the explosions removed and seen the rest of the collapse sound moved forward to cover it (which would explain the silent second or two at the end), or perhaps has had the complete audio track added from somewhere else.

Why would you need to remove the explosion sounds from the soundtrack?

I have asked Richard Gage about this. He has not responded. But he has responded to another person asking the same question. His response: His slide presentation was put together by a committee, not by Richard Gage himself. They claim to be looking into the matter.

Update: Gage has finally removed the altered soundtrack from the presentation and replaced the slide with this new one. (Update: Gage has also removed this slide) Of course, now that we DO hear explosions, it makes Gage's position even worse since no audible charges were heard on 9/11.





So ok, Gage produces no original arguments, no calculations, no papers or articles. And now we find out, that he doesn't even put together his own slide presentation. What exactly DOES this man do, besides take people to lunch and ask for donations?

Let me present to you…

Richard Gage: The Activist

What Richard Gage does do besides the aforementioned, is lecturing. He tours around the U.S. presenting his slideshow and evidence. He also appears on radio shows. See his appearances here .

Update: Gage also bombards the press, as well as architects and engineers around the US with AE911Truth mass e-mails. Here you can find one of his letters, informing the recipients of the e-mail that Ed Asner has signed the AE911Truth petition. This mass e-mail "press release" was sent to over 1,000 media outlets nationwide! But the mass e-mailing does not end here. They encourage all their supporters to mass e-mail AE911Truth links to all the architects and engineers they know. It's up on their site, take a look.

AE911Truth also had a goal of 1,000 A&E members by the day of September 11, 2008. To reach this goal they further encouraged everyone to join the mass e-mailing. They specifically stated: "Send a minimum of one e-mail per day: to every architect and engineer that you can find in your area.". They even had a sample e-mail on their site and provided an evidence letter for everyone to download and send as an attachment. Did they reach their goal? They missed it by over 500 members: on September 10, 2008 they had a total of 473 "A&E members".







So, let’s recap.

We have this man, who

admits demolition is clearly outside the scope of his expertise

has made no original claims or calculations, and written no articles

copies the works of Griffin, Hoffman and Jones (who are also no experts of demolition)

has not even put together his own slide presentation

doesn’t know the basics of engineering

What he does:

presents the slide presentation made by others

makes radio appearances stating the claims made by others

asks for huge amounts of money

makes uninformed phone calls and letters to NIST

has an online petition demanding an independent investigation

exaggerates his popularity

encourages people to mass e-mail his material and links to his site

Does all this sound something an expert would be like?

If you still want to become an AE911Truth hero and donate $911/month to Gage, feel free to do so. If you want to take a medium sized A/E firm and Gage to lunch for $500, feel free to do so.

In the words of Gage and AE911Truth:

" We need many thousands of dollars per month to realize our goals ."

See also:

Our Merchandise page.