911 Health Watch Obtains Harding Memo, Disproving Law Department’s Claim that it Does Not Exist
Memo Reveals City Hall Privately Predicted 10,000 Claims for Injuries from Air Toxins While Publicly Stating the Air was Safe to Breathe
911 Health Watch and Council Member Gale Brewer Call on Mayor Mamdani to Boost Funding for DOI and Complete the Council-Initiated Investigation into Sept. 11 Documents
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 5, 2026
Contact:
Benjamin Chevat
911 Health Watch
646-477-1461
Ben.Chevat@911HealthWatch.org
Andrew Carboy
Law Offices of Andrew J. Carboy LLC
212-520-7565
acarboy@carboylaw.com
Matthew McCauley
Turken, Heath & McCauley, LLP
914-363-6355
mmccauley@thmllp.com
Sam Goldsmith
Office of Council Member Gale A. Brewer
929-502-5640
sgoldsmith@council.nyc.gov
New York, NY – At a press conference today, 911 Health Watch joined by Council Member Gale A. Brewer announced it has finally obtained the “Harding Memo” originally cited by The New York Times on May 14, 2007. The memo appears to be a risk assessment, revealing that the City of New York cared more about protection from liability risks than safeguarding its residents from the dangers of contaminants covering lower Manhattan in October of 2001, just weeks after the World Trade Center collapse. Although referenced by the Times, and in a 2007 book, the memo has never been made publicly available until now.
911 Health Watch has filed the Harding Memo as an exhibit in its ongoing Freedom of Information lawsuit against the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). DEP, which denied the existence of any September 11th-related records and moved to dismiss the case, has recently “found” some of the missing records, disclosing sixty-eight boxes worth of responsive documents to 911 Health Watch in September 2025. The existence of the Harding Memo and sixty-eight boxes strongly suggests that there are more documents in the City’s records to be disclosed; these could include the debate over reopening schools, evacuation of certain neighborhoods, environmental conditions at the World Trade Center site, guidance for systemic decontamination of apartments and offices, and projection of future illnesses.
The press conference was attended by Council Member Brewer, City Council Speaker Julie Menin, Tom Hart, President of Operating Engineers Local 94 and Board Member of 911 Health Watch, Benjamin Chevat, Executive Director 911 Health Watch, Andrew Carboy and Matthew McCauley, pro bono counsel for 911 Health Watch, Andrew Ansbro, President of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, and Jim Brosi, President of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association, Local 854.
They discussed the memo and the continuing effort to find out what the City knew about the hazards caused by the toxic chemicals at Ground Zero and when they knew it. They called on Mayor Mamdani to fully fund the Department of Investigation (DOI), including resources to complete the September 11th documents investigation mandated by Council Member Brewer’s 2025 legislation, and appoint a new DOI commissioner to complete the task.
About the Harding Memo
The memo dates from October 2001, revealing that, as the City told the public that the air was safe to breathe, in private, City lawyers and the Mayor’s Office predicted 10,000 injuries from toxic exposures would result in legal claims. The memo to then-Deputy Mayor Robert Harding has been the subject of over three years of Freedom of Information Requests to the City by 911 Health Watch, as well as the organization’s Article 78 lawsuit against DEP—and the requests of Members of Congress dating back five years. The memo shows that the City’s Law Department, rather than working to mitigate the risks to responders and residents from contaminated air, was instead focused on ways to limit the City’s liability for this danger. Publicly, New York City continued pronouncing the air of lower Manhattan to be “safe and acceptable” through February 2002, at which point the messaging stopped altogether.
911 Health Watch obtained the memo from the personal papers of the late investigative reporter, Wayne Barrett. After Barrett’s 2019 death, his estate gifted the papers to the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin. Barrett received the memo before the 2007 publication of Grand Illusion: The Untold Story of Rudy Giuliani and 9/11 – An Authoritative Political Biography of Leadership Mythology, Security Failures, and Accountability, co-authored with Dan Collins. The memo is cited on page 259 of the book. Through attorneys, 911 Health Watch contacted the Briscoe Center in December. Although the memo did not appear in any index of the 300 boxes of Barrett’s papers, Center staff extended full cooperation, finding it in late January. We thank the Briscoe Center for its coordination and hard work. The memo makes clear that the City Law Department had concerns in 2001—concerns they still had just three and half years ago when, according to press reports, they “met with Reps. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Carolyn Maloney’s (D-N.Y.) staffers…. said they might release the undisclosed material, but only if the lawmakers met three eyebrow-raising demands: Let the city keep $300 million remaining in a federally funded litigation account, fund a new lawsuit protection plan, and pass a federal law shielding the city from any further responsibility, the sources said. The mayor’s office confirmed the broad outlines of what was said at the meeting, and that the city is concerned it could face liability.” NY Daily News, NYC concerned about lawsuits after release of post-9/11 memos about toxic air at Ground Zero, July 30, 2022.
911 Health Watch knows that the City has more documents and information about what the City knew about the dangers of the toxic chemicals at Ground Zero and when they knew it that should be made public. In the last days of the Eric Adams administration, the Mayor’s Office Records Officer ordered the Mayor’s office to respond to the outstanding records request by February 27, 2026.
It remains to be seen whether Mayor Mamdani will order his Corporation Counsel to release what the Law Department has been holding from the public.
The Need to Fully Fund DOI
Meanwhile, regardless of the outcome of that order, DOI has been complying with Council Member Brewer’s legislation passed by the City Council in July 2025 “to ascertain the knowledge possessed by mayoral administrations on environmental toxins produced by the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and submit a report to the Council thereon” by July 2027.
In one of her last official acts as DOI Commissioner, Jocelyn Strauber sent a required year-end update on the status of the investigation to the City Council. In her December 31, 2025 letter, Strauber detailed the financing the DOI requires to complete this required review:
“To conduct such an investigation, DOI would need funding to hire [staff or a third-party firm].” DOI requested this funding — a total of over $3 million over two fiscal years — in its new needs request for the November 2025 Financial Plan and the January 2026 Preliminary Financial Plan. DOI has continued to press for this funding in discussions with the Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget; the request is not yet approved.”
For four years, Brewer pushed the Adams administration to increase the budget at DOI, stating the administration’s spending on oversight reflected its fealty to good government. As we approach the 25th Anniversary of the 9/11 attack in September 2026, Mayor Mamdani must ensure that the DOI has the resources it needs to complete this and other essential investigations.
Mamdani can be the elected official who finally reveals exactly what the City knew about the air quality hazards generated by the collapse of the World Trade Center and when it first learned of them—knowledge that tens of thousands of responders, survivors and their families have wanted to know for years. And he can reverse the Adams administration’s defunding of DOI, which deeply impacts the agency’s ability to fulfill its mandate.
Council Member Brewer’s legislation marked the first time the City Council invoked the authority granted by the New York City Charter to direct DOI to conduct an investigation through a binding resolution. The legislation was a direct response to the Adams administration’s refusal to release the—or acknowledge—the records. She said:
“It’s gratifying to see what’s printed in the Harding memo—but we really need to see all the possible documents from the city, so that survivors and their families can have some satisfaction— and that’s what the full DOI investigation, as required by my law, will give us, and them.”
Newly elected City Council Speaker Julie Menin said:
“Like tens of thousands of New Yorkers, I lived and worked in Lower Manhattan, my small business was devastated, and I was part of a community that was told it was safe to return while serious risks remained unresolved,” said Speaker Julie Menin. “The release of the Harding Memo raises serious questions about what the City knew in the weeks after the attacks and how those risks were addressed. Transparency and accountability are essential in honoring the victims and ensuring we have a full record of the 9/11’s horrific health impacts. I strongly support fully funding the Department of Investigation’s probe and appointing new leadership to complete this work thoroughly and independently.”
Tom Hart, 911 Health Watch Board Member and President Operating Engineers, Local 94 said:
“The People of our great city and nation have endorsed nearly 25 years of pain and suffering as a result of the attacks on September 11th, 2001.
911 Health Watch knows that city has documentation and information which has not been released to our city and our responders. On what was known about the toxic chemicals of Ground Zero. In today’s climate we have 911 questioned the intentions of our elected officials.
This is why we are calling on Mayor Mamdani to fully fund the Department of Investigation (DOI) September 11th documents investigation.
We owe it to our heroes and the people of our city to get the truth. Special thanks to Council Member Brewer for the tireless efforts on this matter.
We are all looking forward to the truth.”
Andrew Ansbro, President Uniformed Firefighters Association said:
“We are calling on the Mayor to fully fund and support the Department of Investigations efforts to uncover the World Trade Center related documents that New York City has hidden from us for so long. New York City Firefighters are that are suffering, and our families that have lost love ones to World Trade Center related illnesses deserve to know the truth. What did those in power know when the air was still contaminated. When did they know it and who was involved with lying to us all these years? It is disgraceful that documents that New York City is holding had to be recovered from a reporter’s archives in Texas. I am calling on Mayor Mamdani to fulfill his promise of being a mayor for the people and to break with a 25-year Mayoral tradition of lying to us all.”
Jim Brosi, President, Uniformed Fire Officers Association, Local 854 said:
“While 25 years have passed, for our sick members it is as if 9/11 happened yesterday. Because they live with the consequences, they deserve the truth. Mayor Mamdani has an opportunity to accomplish what no previous mayor has been able to: provide the resources to determine what was known about the environment that has killed hundreds of firefighters and left thousands with life threatening conditions.”
Benjamin Chevat, Executive Director of 911 Health Watch said:
“Mayor Mamdani can prove he is going to lead audaciously as Mayor if he does what no NYC Mayor has done for 24 years: finally reveal what the City knew about the hazards at Ground Zero and when the City learned this.
The Mayor and the Speaker can do that by providing DOI the resources it seeks to complete the City Council-ordered investigation. The Mayor must quickly appoint a new DOI Commissioner, and the City Council needs to act on that appointment.”
Andrew Carboy, pro bono counsel for 911 Health Watch in its Freedom of Information requests to the Mayor’s Office and current lawsuit against the City Department of Environmental Protection for documents, said:
“After years of pursuing it in Court, it is heartbreaking to finally obtain this memo. We read, with our own eyes, that City Hall worried more about losing lawsuits than losing lives.
Even after the memo circulated in the Mayor’s Office, in October 2001, the City continued to message the public that the air of lower Manhattan was safe and acceptable.
We believe there are other documents like the Harding memo to be revealed. We will continue to fight the City’s stonewalling of any additional risk assessments.”
Matthew McCauley, pro bono counsel for 911 Health Watch said:
“Despite that we had to go to Texas to get a document that was sent from Church Street to City Hall, which the City of New York still has not produced after years of requests, that is not the most outrageous part of today’s chapter of this unnecessary mystery. What is outrageous and chilling is the detail of the leading concerns the City had about the initial rescue efforts and whether the action of our heroes, including those died, would result in litigation and the number of slip and fall lawsuits that may be brought by those who ran for their lives as the towers came down. While there are some health concerns vaguely listed thereafter, the City ends the memo in detail about the concerns of liability associated with all of the contractors and personnel who were working at Ground Zero in the recovery effort. Are we to believe that these are the only 2 pages the City is still refusing to produce? This is why 9/11 Health Watch continues its mission.”
Background
You can read about 911 Health Watch’s efforts here on our website.
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