Just days after a homeless man found sensitive blueprints of the planned Freedom Tower in a trash can, a much larger trove of confidential World Trade Center documents emerged yesterday – also found in the garbage, but this time right behind the Port Authority office where the rebuilding is being overseen.
A pair of self-described “salvage experts” said they have twice found massive piles of sensitive blueprints, schematics and e-mails detailing several of the buildings at the site, the temporary PATH train station, and a proposed PA Police headquarters in a trash bin behind 115 Broadway.
The building overlooks the trade center site, and is where the PA has rented out an entire floor for engineers who run the redevelopment.
The first of the pair’s finds came about a year and a half ago, and the second on March 13.
The two men, who asked that they be identified only as Tony B. and Fox, said they didn’t know what to do with the documents but feared they could get into the wrong hands, so they held onto them at their lower Manhattan warehouse.
“We knew what we had. I thought the information was important and potentially dangerous if it fell into the wrong hands, and we weren’t going to let that happen,” Fox said. “We were protecting the trade center. We were protecting the country.”
When asked about the discarded documents, the PA did not explain how the detailed plans ended up in the trash intact.
“This is a $16 billion project that produces literally tons of building plans and documents that are not privileged and confidential,” said PA spokesperson Candace McAdams.
“If our security professionals determine a document to be privileged and confidential, we have very strict protocols in place for discarding that document, including, sealing and shredding.”
But the documents found by Tony B. and Fox and reviewed by The Post do in fact read, “SECURE DOCUMENT – CONFIDENTIAL FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY,” on every page.
Fox said when he and his partner read the story in Friday’s Post about a homeless man finding detailed blueprints for the Freedom Tower in a city trash can, they immediately knew who to call.
“As soon as I saw The Post, I said, ‘This is the perfect opportunity to get rid of it safely,’ ” said Tony B. “This is dangerous stuff they’re throwing away.
“I worry about the stuff I didn’t get. What could be out there? What if it hadn’t been us, what if it was terrorists instead?”
In all, the boxes of papers and rolls of blueprints weigh about 300 pounds.
Among the documents were blueprints for building 4 WTC and the temporary PATH station, preliminary plans for the police headquarters, and a detailed construction plan for building 7.
They also found a large box filled with printed e-mails between Thomas J. O’Connor, a chief construction engineer for the PA, and several contractors laying out construction timetables and the materials to be used.