9/11 Victims: Subpoena of 911 Tapes

Lawmaker calls for subpoena of 911 tapes

Newsday -September 19, 2003

Reporters poring over released transcripts of September 11 calls

U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner and some relatives of victims of the terrorist attacks have asked a federal agency to subpoena materials from the city that they believe could help in a probe of the World Trade Center evacuation and collapse.

Speaking on the steps of City Hall on Thursday, Weiner, a Democrat, said the city should be forced to turn over the materials, which include 911 tapes and interviews with firefighters, The New York Times reported Friday.

The city has so far refused to give the material to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, saying it is awaiting the outcome of a lawsuit by the Times which seeks to make the material public, the newspaper said.

Lawrence Kahn, chief litigating assistant in the city's law department, told the Times that the tapes and interviews contain personal material and that releasing them would be "an unwarranted invasion of their privacy."

Mat Heyman, the acting chief of staff at NIST, said the agency is "very anxious to get these documents."

"They will give us additional leads to explore," he told the Times. "We do not want to get too much further into investigation before we get access to what could be very important information."

A NIST official told the Times the agency would consider the request to subpoena the materials.

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