9/11 'Harding memo': Warned of 35,000 potential lawsuits tied to toxic air, other factors at Ground Zero

A memo unearthed this week related to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center indicates New York City officials were concerned that first responders and thousands of civilians in and around Ground Zero faced potential toxic health risks that could result in tens of thousands of potential lawsuits — and hundreds of millions of dollars in potential claims — barely a month after the attacks occurred.

The so-called Harding memo, an assessment of potential litigation exposure, was sent to Robert Harding, then-deputy mayor for economic development under Mayor Rudy Giuliani, in October 2001, with a subject line that read: "Legislative Alternatives to Limit the City's Liability relating to 9/11/01."

Not only did the Giuliani administration withhold release of the memo, but so has each mayoral administration since.

"We head to the 25th anniversary of 9/11, it’s really just shameful, shameful, that this city hid this information, refused to disclose this information," City Council Speaker Julie Menin said on Thursday from the steps of City Hall, as aides held up enlarged copies of two pages of the memo.

Joined by Councilwoman Gale Brewer, firefighter union leaders and advocates for 9/11 survivors, Menin criticized the city for failing to release the memo and urged Mayor Zohran Mamdani to agree to release all similar documents.

The memo listed potential liability for the city, some of which came to pass — health advisories causing people to return to the area and toxic exposure; inadequate or no safety equipment such as respirators — and some that didn’t — looting, health advisories keeping people from returning, causing economic harm.

"This emergence tells us beyond a doubt that there were more records in the city’s possession," said Brewer, who has spearheaded legislation to require the city to investigate what it knew about air toxins in the aftermath of 9/11.

"It is unconscionable that the City of New York did not take responsibility for basically lying to not only first responders, but to the whole downtown community," Menin said.

Asked about the document, Mamdani spokesman Sam Raskin cited the testimony earlier in the week before the City Council of Steve Banks, whom Mamdani has nominated to be the city's chief lawyer, in which Banks promised he would conduct a review of what 9/11-related documents exist and what records can be released. 

It was just days after 9/11 that the New York City health department announced the public risk of both short- and long-term adverse health effects related to asbestos exposure from the terror attacks were "very low." And, in October 2001, the then-health commissioner said tests of particulate matter in the air did not pose a long-term health risk to the public.

Asked city to open files

A timeline posted by the 911 Health Watch nonprofit advocacy organization shows then-Rep. Carolyn Maloney and Rep. Jerry Nadler tried to get then-Mayor Bill de Blasio to open the city's files on the 20th anniversary of the attacks in 2021 so "survivors, and their families" could have "a better understanding" of what the Giuliani administration "knew about the likely scope of the health crisis that would affect so many and when they knew it."

But the de Blasio administration denied the request, as did the Adams administration.

The Harding memo was found in files at the University of Texas following a Freedom of Information Law request by attorney Andrew J. Carboy and Turken, Heath & McCauley LLP on behalf of the estates of several emergency responders and area residents.

The memo was included in a trove of papers donated to the university by journalist Wayne Barrett, who died in 2017. Along with Dan Collins, Barrett authored the 2007 book "Grand Illusion: The Untold Story of Rudy Giuliani and 9/11 — An Authoritative Political Biography of Leadership Mythology, Security Failures, and Accountability."

"According to the Law Department," the memo reads, "there are approximately 35,000 potential plaintiffs as a result of the events of Sept. 11 and it is estimate [sic] that 10,000 would file a claim" — and noted that the department's tort division handled about 8,000 lawsuits a year at the time.

"A major concern," the memo reads, "is that if these cases make it to court, the judges and juries will be biased in favor of plaintiffs (even though the City seems to have a strong defense) and therefore, award substantial damages to compensate individuals for their loss."

Among other potential liabilities for the city, the memo noted, were that police failed to secure the evacuated premises from looters; health advisories caused individuals to return to the area around Ground Zero "too soon," causing "toxic exposure or emotional harm" or "too late," causing economic hardship; and that rescue workers were provided with faulty protective equipment or none at all.