15. The omission of the fact that President Bush's brother Marvin and his cousin Wirt Walker III were both principals in the company in charge of security for the WTC (31-32).
Neither the name “Marvin Bush” nor “Wirt Walker” appears in the Commission Report. The report does not discuss the security system at the World Trade Center, or who operated it.
There are numerous claims inherent in this allegation. But first we have to identify the company in question. On page 31 of Dr Griffin’s book The 9/11 Commission Report: Omission and Distortions the name of the company is provided in a quote from another book:
Quote:
One of many of the ironies of the attack was that Marvin Bush, the president’s brother, owned stock in and had served as a director of a company, Stratesec, that handled security for three clients that figured prominently in the attack – United Airlines; Dulles Airport, from which American Airlines Flight 77 was hijacked; and the World Trade Center itself.
Unger, C.; House of Bush, House of Saud: The Secret Relationship Between the World’s Two Most Powerful Dynasties, New York & Lindon: Scribner (2004), pg.249.
Dr Griffin further clarifies in the footnotes:
Quote:
The company at the time was named Securacom.
Thus:
Quote:
a) The claim inherent in the allegations is that Marvin Bush is President Bush’s brother, and Wirt Walker III is President Bush’s cousin.
b) The claim inherent in the allegation is that both Marvin Bush and Wirt Walker III were principals in Securacom.
c) The claim inherent in the allegation is that Securacom were in charge of security at the WTC.
In regards to Marvin Bush:
Quote:
Marvin Pierce Bush (born October 22, 1956) is the youngest son of George H. W. Bush and Barbara Pierce, and brother of George W., John (Jeb), Neil and Dorothy. He is named for his maternal grandfather. He and wife Margaret have two adopted children: a daughter, Marshall, and a son, Walker.
Source Furthermore the following photographs confirm his close relationship to the current President of the United States:
Front Left (seated):Front Row, centre:However any relationship to Wirt Walker III is questionable:
Quote:
Walker is the great-grandnephew of his namesake Wirt D. Walker (1860-1899), a successful railroad entrepreneur and philanthropist from Chicago who became blind and helped found the Art Institute of Chicago. They are descended from James M. Walker of New Hampshire. Although frequently cited as a cousin of Marvin Bush, who is a descendant of George Herbert Walker of St. Louis, there is no connection between the families.
Source According to the
Bush family tree:
The oldest descendant with the surname “Walker” is David Davis Walker (1840 – 1918):
Quote:
David Davis Walker was born in near Bloomington, Illinois 19 Jan 1840. David died 4 Oct 1918 in Kennebunkeport, Maine, at 78 years of age.
He married Martha Adela Beaky in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, 25 Dec 1862. Martha was born in Emmitsburg, Frederick, Maryland 1 Jun 1841. Martha was the daughter of Joseph Ambrose Beaky and Mary Ann Bangs.
David Davis Walker and Martha Adela Beaky had the following children:
- Joseph Sidney Walker was born in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri 11 Oct 1863.
- William Hargadine Walker was born in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri 10 Sep 1864.
- Rose Marion Walker was born in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri 10 Aug 1867.
- David Davis Walker was born in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri 7 Apr 1870.
- George Herbert Walker was born 11 Jun 1875.
Source So it would appear Wirt D Walker III is unrelated to President Bush. But what of the role of these individuals is Securacom/Stratesec?
Quote:
Marvin Bush was reelected to the Stratesec board of directors annually from 1993 through 1999. His last reelection was on May 25, 1999, for July 1999 to June 2000.
…
While on the board, Marvin Bush served on the company's Audit Committee and Compensation Committee. He acquired 53,000 shares of stock in the company at 52 cents a share, partly through his private company, Andrews-Bush, located in northern Virginia. Shares in the 1997 initial offering sold at $8.50.
Company stock became worthless after the company's de-listing. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings ceased showing Marvin Bush as a shareholder after 2000, but there are no filings indicating when his stock was sold.
Source It would appear that Marvin Bush was on the board of Securacom, although this position appears to have ceased in June 2000 – a full 14 months before the September 11 Attacks.
The question then becomes, what was Securacom’s role at the World Trade Center? At this point it is worth identifying what Dr Griffin contends the significance of their presence is:
Quote:
Of course, if the Twin Towers as well as WTC-7 had been fitted with explosives so that they could be “pulled” at the appropriate time, we would have an explanation as to how some people could have known in advance that the buildings were going to collapse. Relevant to this possibility might be the fact that President Bush’s brother, Marvin Bush, and his cousin, Wirt Walker III, were principals in the company that was in charge of security for the World Trade Center, with Walker being the CEO from 1999 until January 2002.
Griffin, D.R.; The 9/11 Commission Report: Omissions and Distortions, pg.31
It appears Griffin’s allegation is that Marvin Bush’s position, as a member of the Board of Securacom, allowed unknown persons to enter the World Trade Center buildings undetected and wire them with explosives. The notion itself is absurd. Fifty thousand people worked in the Twin Towers alone, and some of the offices were occupied around the clock. Assistance from the company that controlled security might indeed allow demolition crews to bypass security, but it could not conceal their work from the thousands of people who worked in the towers.
Bearing this in mind, did Securacom run security at the World Trade Center? The short answer is, no. Securacom’s work at the World Trade Center started as a result of a security upgrade in the aftermath of the 1993 Bombing. But they weren’t the major contractor:
Quote:
E-J Electric Installation Co., the country's oldest independent electrical contractor, won a $28 million contract in 1996 to tighten security at the World Trade Center. The Long Island City, N.Y.-based contractor installed 2 million feet of fiber-optic cable, hundreds of security cameras, access control and 110 turnstiles, including systems integration. The parking garage also became restricted after a terrorist drove a van, containing a bomb, into the underground parking garage in 1993.
Source Securacom also began its work in 1996:
Quote:
Securacom got the $8.3 million World Trade Center security contract in October 1996 and received about $9.2 million from the WTC job from 1996 (a quarter of its revenues that year) to 1998. But in 1998, the company was "excused from the project" because it could not fulfill the work, according to former manager Al Weinstein, and the electronic security work at the WTC was taken over by EJ Electric, a larger contractor.
Source Securacom’s United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings reflect this:
Quote:
Revenues increased by 108.6% from $5.8 million in 1996 to $12.1 million in 1997. The increase was due to work completed for new clients and an increase in work completed on existing projects. Revenues from the World Trade Center project, which commenced in October 1996, increased from $1.6 million in 1996 to $6.6 million in 1997.
1997 Filing Quote:
Revenues decreased by 45% from $12.1 million in 1997 to $6.6 million in 1998. The decrease was due to the closeout of the World Trade Center Project.
1998 Filing All of Securacom’s SEC filings are available
online.
It appears Securacom were not “in charge” of security at the WTC at all, much less on 9/11. These records suggest they were involved in a particular aspect of upgrading the security system from 1996 until 1998.
So who was running security at the World Trade Center? That responsibility appears to have been somewhat shared between the Port Authority Police Department (PAPD) and a private company called Kroll Inc.
Quote:
I am a Police Officer in the employ of the Port Authority of NY & NJ. I have been such for the greater part of the last 23 years. On Sept. 11th, 2001, our Police Department suffered the greatest single day loss in Law Enforcement history at the World Trade Center. 37 Officers from every rank (Superintendent to Police Officer) as well as my partner, explosive detector K-9 Sirius were killed in the attack. Many would ask what the PAPD was doing in the World Trade Center. A little known fact was that we were always there. Since the Port Authority owned the buildings, we (the Police) were responsible for the public safety therein.
Testimony of David Lim
Nation Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States
First Public Hearing, March 31, 2003 Kroll Inc. were responsible for security at the entire WTC site on 9/11, and they appointed former FBI counter-terrorism expert John O’Neill as head of security less than a month before the attacks.
Quote:
He hears about a job opening as head of security at the World Trade Center. It would mean a significant salary increase, but also it would mean leaving the FBI. By this point, however, O'Neill realizes his chances for a promotion were severely hurt by the briefcase incident. In addition to career problems, entertaining foreign visitors and O'Neill's lifestyle had left him in debt. The job at the World Trade Center would give him a chance to pay off that debt.
Source Quote:
O'Neill, 49, became chief of security at the World Trade Center last month following a 25-year career with the FBI. While with the FBI, O'Neill was in charge of national security in New York, and he may have died at the hands of terrorists he had trailed in the role.
"That's the irony here, that he would perish in this way,” said Bucknam, who was an adviser to former FBI director Louis Freeh and now is managing director of the Kroll Associates security consultants. "He ate, drank and slept fighting terrorists. Apart from the human loss, it's a real loss of talent.”
John P. O'Neill : A Career Fighting Terrorism
McGinty, J.C.; Newsday, September 14, 2001
Source Quote:
O'Neill had recently retired from the FBI and had just taken over security for the World Trade Center, said New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik.
"That Tuesday was his first or second day on the job," Kerik said Friday in an interview with CNN's Larry King Live. . "He was going to go into One World Trade, the tower one, and when the strike came he went into the second tower in an attempt to help people get out of the building and he died there. We found his body today."
CNN Quote:
Some of us did see the emerging pattern and shouted out in alarm. John O'Neill, for example, who was named the head of security at the World Trade Center in New York two weeks before September 11, was one. I knew and respected John; Kroll helped to place him in the job that cost him his life.
Cherkasky, M.;
Forewarned, Ballantine Books, 2003
Chapter One – Twenty Years of Terror Upon investigation, Dr Griffin’s claims appear weak at best. Many of those responsible for security in the World Trade Center site were killed in the collapse of the buildings; an unlikely outcome had they been party to the attacks.
Quote:
a) The claim that Marvin Bush is President Bush’s brother, and Wirt Walker III is President Bush’s cousin is partially rejected. While Marvin Bush is the President’s brother, Wirt Walker III appears to be unrelated.
b) The claim that both Marvin Bush and Wirt Walker III were principals in Securacom is conditionally accepted. Marvin Bush was involved in the company, however his involvement ended long before the 9/11 Attacks. Given that Wirt Walker III appears to be unrelated to President Bush, his involvement in the company is irrelevant.
c) The claim that Securacom were in charge of security at the WTC is rejected.
