Since I am an infrequent visitor to this board, please forgive me if the following has already been addressed.
I have a couple of questions about these pictures and since they are used in Jones' report, it's relevant to the OP.
For the moment, I'm going to assume that Jones' scenario is correct and from that, I will make the following assumptions:
1) These are load bearing columns, since they were targeted for cutting during the building's collapse. And as load bearing columns go, they would experience great amounts of compressive force.
2) A "thermite cutter charge" gets hot enough to liquefy the steel along the lines of where the cutter charge is placed, over 2500° C.
3) The steel surrounding the cutter charge contact area would also be heated, but to a decreasing degree the further away it is from the cutter charge. Significantly heated, but not to the melting point.
My questions are: would the support columns, experiencing large compressive force during the melt-through, look so relatively intact? Wouldn't they distort before failure? If the cutter charge managed sever it without distorting, wouldn't the remaining section of the column likely experience impacts from the debris falling among it and in its heated, softened state, show evidence of those impacts?
Maybe if Dr. Jones had recreated the effects of thermite on a large steel column with a compressive force comparable to supporting a skyscraper, rather than melting a steel coffee cup, we might have a better idea if that picture is an accurate evidence of what he proposes.