Christopher,
Do you have any comprehension of how a group of scientists at NIST would approach coming up with a hypothesis for what caused building 7 to collapse?
Do you realize all that they would review?
They look at the blueprints for the building.
They look at structural design elements to identify any areas that might have been more vulnerable to failure than others.
They look at the materials used in the building.
They look at building components to identify any materials used that might have been more vulnerable to failure than others.
They look at the contents of the building.
They try to identify any areas whose concentration of flammable contents may have been high enough to make it more vulnerable to failure than others.
They look at the verbally reported and photo/video documented structural damage to the building.
(All of it, not just selective pieces that support pre-determined conclusions.) They try to assess what was damaged to the best of their ability and identify any areas that may have been more vulnerable to failure than others.
They look at the verbally reported and photo/video documented fire progression.
(All of it, not just selective pieces that support pre-determined conclusions.) They try to assess when and where there were fires and identify any areas that may have been more vulnerable to failure than others.
They look at the video of the collapse sequence.
They try to assess what areas of the structure could most likely have failed to produce the observed collapse sequence.
After looking at ALL of this, they would try to identify the area most vulnerable to failure and develop a working hypothesis for what caused the failure. Then they would develop experiments and models to determine the probability of their hypothesis.
After their preliminary examination of the whole body of evidence, as sound scientists, what they would NOT do, (even though you've made it painfully clear that you would do it this way), is abandon what was, at the time, the best available hypothesis simply because of a single photo and absence of evidence in one of the six above-mentioned areas.
Based on the evidence (and lack thereof) you've provided, your claim that NIST/Shyam Sunder was lying by proposing their initial working hypothesis is a 55-gallon heavy-duty garbage bag filled to the top with nothing but fail.