www.networksolutions.com allows you to perform whois searches. I was on www.9-11commission.gov earlier today out of curiosity and decided to see who manages the site. You cannot look up .gov domains directly, so I did a search for the sites ip address (192.43.217.198) and this is what I got:
192.43.217.198
Record Type: IP Address
OrgName: NOAA/ERL Space Environment Laboratory
OrgID: NSEL
Address: The Radio Building 325 Broadway
City: Boulder
StateProv: CO
PostalCode: 80303
Country: US
NetRange: 192.43.217.0 - 192.43.217.255
CIDR: 192.43.217.0/24
NetName: NOAASEL-NET
NetHandle: NET-192-43-217-0-1
Parent: NET-192-0-0-0-0
NetType: Direct Assignment
Comment:
RegDate: 1988-12-09
Updated: 1999-12-10
RTechHandle: ZN10-ARIN
RTechName: National Center for AtmosphericResearch
RTechPhone: +1-303-497-1200
RTechEmail: ne@ucar.edu
noaa.gov (140.90.33.10) is hosted out of Maryland. There is probably some trivial reason for the 9-11 Commission to be hosted out of an research laboratory in Boulder, CO. But, it's still weird. The ERL doesn't really exist any more either. If you go to www.erl.noaa.gov (140.172.10.38)you get redirected to a 'page not found'. Here is the whois for www.erl.noaa.gov:
140.172.10.38
Record Type: IP Address
OrgName: NOAA-Boulder
OrgID: NOAABO
Address: 325 Broadway
City: Boulder
StateProv: CO
PostalCode: 80305
Country: US
NetRange: 140.172.0.0 - 140.172.255.255
CIDR: 140.172.0.0/16
NetName: NOAA-BOULDER
NetHandle: NET-140-172-0-0-1
Parent: NET-140-0-0-0-0
NetType: Direct Assignment
NameServer: ALPHA.BOULDER.NOAA.GOV
NameServer: DOGBERT.BOULDER.NOAA.GOV
Comment:
RegDate: 1990-05-08
Updated: 2000-12-20
RTechHandle: RN326-ARIN
RTechName: NOAA/OAR, R/OM12
RTechPhone: +1-303-497-6351
RTechEmail: noc@boulder.noaa.gov
OrgTechHandle: RN326-ARIN
OrgTechName: NOAA/OAR, R/OM12
OrgTechPhone: +1-303-497-6351
OrgTechEmail: noc@boulder.noaa.gov
I live a few blocks from there. I'm going to walk over there this week and ask them directly.
hmm, interesting... i just wanted to add a footnote to your discovery: the DC Sniper's first victim was a guy worked at the NOAA. Just something to think about...