Adams Administration Delays Responding to FOIL Request for 9/11 documents for 10th Time—This Time Postponing Response to March 19, 2026
911 Health Watch files Appeal of the Mayor’s years-long effective denial of their FOIL request
911 Health Watch seeks court order for testimony of DEP and City officials who denied the existence of responsive World Trade Center documents in New York Supreme Court proceedings
911 Health Watch urges Mayor-Elect Mamdani to release “Harding Memo”, commit to full cooperation with City Council-ordered Department of Investigation (DOI) investigation of 9/11 documents upon taking office in January, and provide full support to DOI to complete its job in the 25th Anniversary year of 9/11 attacks
December 14, 2025
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Benjamin Chevat
911 Health Watch
646 477 1461
Ben.Chevat@911HealthWatch.org
Matthew McCauley
Turken, Heath & McCauley, LLP.
914 363 6355
mmccauley@thmllp.com
Andrew Carboy
Law Offices of Andrew J. Carboy LLC
212 520 7565
acarboy@carboylaw.com
The Adams Administration has yet again delayed responding to 911 Health Watch’s September 8, 2023 FOIL request (Mayor’s Office, December 1, 2025 Extension), this time pushing their response date out to March 19, 2026—by which time Mayor Adams will have left office.
Because of the continued delays, 911 Health Watch, Phil Alvarez, on behalf of his brother, NYPD Detective Luis G. Alvarez, (deceased); Karen Klingon, Executrix of the Estate of Robert Klingon (resident of lower Manhattan); Yvonne Baisley, Executrix of the Estate of FDNY Firefighter Robert Fitzgibbon; and Charlotte Berwind, Executrix of the Estate of volunteer firefighter Charles E. Flickinger, Jr. filed an Administrative Appeal of the Mayor’s effective denial of the FOIL request.
911 Health Watch is also seeking a court order for testimony of Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and City officials who denied the existence of responsive World Trade Center documents. View here.
911 Health Watch calls on Mayor-elect Mamdani to release the “Harding Memo”, a document the New York Times reported was sent to then-Deputy Mayor Harding in October, 2001. “Whatever they were saying publicly about the safety of the air, Mr. Giuliani and his staff were privately worried. A memo to Deputy Mayor Robert M. Harding from his assistant in early October said that the city faced as many as 10,000 liability claims connected to 9/11.” (New York Times, May14, 2007, “Ground Zero Illnesses Clouding Giuliani’s Legacy”)
Mayor-elect Mamdani can be the Mayor that finally resolves this issue on behalf of tens of thousands of first responders, workers, and residents in and around Ground Zero after 25 years of denial by four Mayoral Administrations.
Mayor-elect Mamdani should commit his administration to full cooperation with the City Council-ordered DOI investigation of the 9/11 documents, and provide DOI with the resources needed to find out what the City knew regarding the health hazards at Ground Zero and when the City knew it.
Since 2023, using New York City’s Freedom of Information Law (“FOIL”), 911 Health Watch has fought New York City for access to its September 11th archive, detailing its considerations in reopening lower Manhattan and public schools. As our application to the Court states: “Why did the City assure first responders, recovery workers, returning residents, students and office personnel that the air was safe to breathe while simultaneously lobbying for federal ‘liability protection’ against thousands of anticipated toxic exposure claims? What did the City know and when did it know it?“
These City files would provide the answers, but only if they are released.
After years of denying the existence of the files and fighting to dismiss the 911 Health Watch New York Supreme Court Article 78 proceeding to secure them, the City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) recently admitted “finding” responsive records, at least sixty-eight (68) boxes in total—an estimated 340,000 pages. The DEP revealed this to the Supreme Court Justice assigned to the case, the Hon. James Clynes, by letter dated September 16, 2025.
This revelation occurred only after the NYC Council passed Councilwoman Brewer’s Resolution 560, using for the first time a provision under the City Charter ordering the NYC Department of Investigation (DOI) to investigate and gather these documents.
911 Health Watch, along with its pro bono attorneys, Matthew McCauley and Andrew Carboy, and Councilwoman Gale Brewer gathered to review the first set of 20 boxes of documents out of 68 boxes total at DEP offices in Queens on November 17, 2025. (We are expecting to review additional boxes shortly.)
We saw in those records that the City anticipated an asbestos risk. DEP kept separately organized “asbestos” and “non-asbestos” files in the days following the WTC collapse. Also found in the DEP files was a 2002 directive from the City Law Department mandating the agency preserve its September 11th records, indefinitely, underscoring the absurdity of DEP denying the existence of the records in our legal proceedings.
9/11 Health Watch has made a formal request to Judge Clynes to take the sworn testimony of the City officials responsible for the campaign of denial. Government transparency and the integrity of judicial proceedings are jeopardized by the City’s aggression in hiding the September 11 archive. We ask for not only all responsive documents, but for answers as to why the City did not disclose that it had at least 68 boxes in the first place.
When the news of the discovery of the 68 boxes broke, Mayor Adams’ office explained, “We remain dedicated to getting 9/11 victims and their families the answers they need.” If this dedication is genuine, we ask and expect the City to make the responsible DEP officials available for questioning by our attorneys as to why they initially denied there were any records.
Although our fight with DEP is well underway, the Adams Administration has delayed responding to the rest of our FOIL request over a span of three (3) years. We do not have a single page from the other agencies we FOILed. Most recently, the Mayor’s Office unilaterally gave itself a tenth extension to respond to the FOIL, this time until March 19, 2026, leaving any major decision about the records to Mayor-elect Mamdani. (Mayor’s Office, December 1, 2025 Extension)
Here is a list of all of the Mayor’s office extensions.
Because of the continued delays, 9/11 Health Watch and the Estate ofNYPD Detective Luis G. Alvarez have filed an Administrative Appeal of the Mayor’s effective denial of FOIL. (View here.)
Phil Alvarez, on behalf of his brother’s estate, stated “Today, I support the full release of the City’s September 11th records. Like my brother before me, I should not need to be here, standing before the authorities and seeking only what is justly due to everyone else being affected by this disaster. The records of the City’s response belong to us all. As you all remember, just days before he death, my brother testified before Congress in 2019, “I should not be here today but YOU made me come. YOU made me come because I will not stand by and watch as my friends with cancer from 9/11 like me are valued less than anyone else is because of when they get sick or die.” There is no irony in me saying, well here we are again. We need to understand why our brothers and sisters, who responded when the City needed them most, continue to get sick and die. The September 11th records will hopefully help us curtail this ongoing tragedy. It’s time!”
While 9/11 Health Watch will continue to pursue its FOIL request, and since Mayor Adams is now officially punting till March 19, 2026, in answering our requests, 9/11 Health Watch calls on Mayor-Elect Mamdani to release the “Harding Memo” once he takes office.
Mayor Mamdani can resolve the issue of what the City knew and when it knew it regarding the hazards caused by the toxic chemicals at Ground Zero by releasing the “Harding Memo” and the documents that informed its conclusions. In October 2001, the City was more concerned with securing liability protections for an anticipated 10,000 claims for exposure to World Trade Center contaminants instead of protecting first responders and the residents and office workers who were advised it was safe to return to lower Manhattan.
The Mayor should also demonstrate his commitment and that of his to-be-named Corporation Counsel to full cooperation with the City Council-ordered DOI investigation. The DOI must be provided the resources it requires to investigate what the City knew about the airborne hazards in lower Manhattan and when it learned it.
Through multiple administrations, the Mayor’s Office has worked doggedly to prevent full disclosure of this information, swatting away the efforts of New York’s Congressional delegations to ascertain it and 9/11 Health Watch’s FOIL requests.
We do not know the full extent of what the City knew about the risks posed by the air in lower Manhattan following the World Trade Center collapse, but any undisclosed information must be shared with the public.
Benjamin Chevat, Executive Director of 911 Health Watch Inc, stated:
Mayor-Elect Mamdani can be the Mayor who after 25 years answers the question: what did the City know about the hazards caused by the toxic chemicals at Ground Zero, and when did it know it? He can do that by ordering his yet to be named Corporation Counsel to release the ‘Harding Memo’ and the data that went into drafting it, by supporting and fully cooperating with the City Council’s DOI investigation and by making sure DOI has the funding to do its job.
Andrew Carboy, lawyer for 911 Health Watch and first responders in court proceedings, said:
Twenty-five years after September 11th, the City’s grinding resistance to sharing its knowledge of the air quality in lower Manhattan inflicts a moral injury on those sickened by toxic exposures there.
This refusal disrespects the service and memories of the fallen. Our fight continues in State Supreme Court, against DEP, in which we are prevailing and now reviewing documents the DEP long denied existed. We now challenge the refusal of the Mayor’s Office to release its September 11th archive.
Matthew McCauley, co-counsel to 9/11 Health Watch and a retired NYPD 9/11 First Responder himself, stated:
As this unnecessary mystery continues—what’s in the boxes, how many exist, and why the City still refuses transparency—we must focus on one simple truth: we already know what isn’t in those boxes. There is nothing in any of the identified or yet-to-be-identified documents that would have kept a single first responder from running toward danger on 9/11. There is nothing that could diminish the integrity, courage, or sacrifice that define these men and women. And there is nothing that could ever desecrate the memory of those who died that day, those who have died since, or those who will continue to suffer the consequences. The City must stop fixating on the existence, location, or legal shielding of these boxes. Instead, it needs to acknowledge that the information they contain still has the power to save lives—nearly a quarter-century after the attacks.
You can view the Record of Article 78 Proceedings regarding DEP denial of documents here.
You can view 911 Health Watch’s Administrative Appeal of the Mayor’s Office refusal here.
You can view the full history of this issue and 911 Health Watch’s efforts on this here on our webpage here.
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