indicated in our conversation that russia wants to support ukraine in its independence and in its ability to be able to make that transition. the ukrainian government has demonstrated remarkable restraint in the face of enormous pressure. it has shown the world the kind of courage and a resilience that every country ought to applaud. and as it continues down this path, the united states of america and our partners will remain firmly by its side. i'd be delighted to take any questions. >> we know the russians have passed a considerable force -- a means of intimidation and perhaps because they have a military option in mind.

you noted that you raised this and asked the russian side to pull these forces back from the border. did they agree to do so? if not, what reason did they give? secondly, both sides have talked in recent weeks about the possibility of federalization in ukraine. largely as a means of protecting the interests of the russian speaking population. but the russian side appears to have a far reaching concept of federalization in mind. one that would give the regions veto authority over national policies, even foreign policy. did you make any headway tonight in narrowing the gap on this core issue? and what are the next steps? thank you. >> thank you very much, michael. as i said earlier, both sides made suggestions today on how we can de-escalate the security as well as the political situation in and around ukraine. and, yes, we talked very

seriously and at length about the impact of the massing of troops and the importance of including the drawdown and redeployment of some of those troops with respect to the process moving forward. we both made suggestions as to how that might be able to be achieved. and i will return to washington to consult with president obama about his choices with respect to that. but in the end, let's be clear, it is ukrainians who have to ultimately agree to or make any decisions with respect to the road ahead. we're trying to find a way to defuse this, de-escalate it, provide a climate within which good negotiations can take place regarding the other issues. that brings me to the other issue that you raised, michael,

about the question of federalization. i said in my opening comments, and i will repeat again, it's not up to us to make any decision or any agreement regarding federalization. we talked about it. but it's up to ukrainians. and ukrainians will decide their future for themselves, by themselves, with respect to what kind of definitions work for them. and it will have to be, you know, an input obviously of what the russian view is. i think it's important to take that into account. because russia obviously has long ties and serious interests. but in the end, ukrainians are going to have to make that decision. and so tonight we did not explore that because it would have been inappropriate of me to do so without ukrainian input and direction with respect to

that. what we're looking for here is a process. not a substantive resolution. ukrainians have to do that. what we're looking for is how do we de-escalate? how do we get on a track to be able to give the ukrainians the opportunity that they deserve to be able to do that. >> hi. just to clarify on your answer on the discussion of troops, is there any scenario under which the united states would accept having any of those troops remain? and secondly on the middle east, prime minister netanyahu told the meeting today the prisoner issue could take several days to resolve and that he will make no decision about prisoners that doesn't clearly benefit israel. what is your reading of where israel is on that issue -- on

the release issue and how large a hurdle has that placed in your effort to get a framework agreement by the end of april? >> well, with respect to the troop deployment, i think i've already answered it. we have ideas. we have some proposals that both sides made. and it's really important for the appropriate consultations to take place before there's any discussion about that. but in the end, obviously the troops are in russia. they're on russian soil. the question is not one of right or legality. the question is one of strategic appropriateness. and -- and whether it's smart at this moment in time to have that number of troops massed on a border when you're trying to

send the message perceivably that you want to de-escalate and begin moving in the other direction. so those are the choices that have to be made. but ukrainians have to be front and center in whatever the lasting, long-term possibilities are. and i'm not going to venture there tonight because it's really up to them what's appropriate or not. secondly, with respect to the middle east peace process and the prisoners, i'm just not going to comment at this important moment. i think it would be inappropriate to get into any kind of judgments about what may or may not occur or happen because it's really a question between the palestinians and the israelis. and what prime minister netanyahu is prepared to do. so he has -- he's working diligently, i know. i just literally talked to him 15 minutes ago. and he's working at it.

our team is on the ground. we have our chief negotiator and the full team there. they're working every moment. i've been in touch with them constantly through the day. and we'll see where we are tomorrow when some judgments have to be made. thank you all. appreciate it. thanks. >> you've been listening to secretary of state john kerry following his comments in paris at the u.s. ambassador's residence there. these comments follow his meeting with the russian foreign minister, sergei lavrov. they were discussing the crisis in ukraine. in secretary kerry's words, that conversation with lavrov was, quote, a frank conversation. he said that the u.s. made clear in that conversation that it still views russia's actions in crimea as, in his words, illegal and illegitimate. on the key question of the russian forces now deployed some 40,000 russian forces on that border of eastern ukraine, which the u.s., he said, views as

provocative, clearly no agreement yet. he said that both sides made suggestions to each other about possible drawdown, redeployment of troops. he also noted in the end those troops are in russia on russian soil. that remains an open question. i want to bring in our foreign affairs reporter elyse labot. she's in washington now. as you listen to secretary kerry's comments there, particularly his comments on those troops which the u.s. has made very clear is a provocative act, those russian troops on the ukrainian border, did you hear a sign that they had moved closer to agreement on that issue? >> jim, i think that there's an effort on both parts to de-escalate the situation and not make it go further. i think what's interesting is these discussions were not centered around a reversal of this annexation of crimea which the secretary did say was inappropriate, illegal, illegitimate. but no talk in those statements, really, about reversing it. which means -- which says to me

that crimea is gone. this is kind of a fait accompli. what can the u.s. give russia? what can the ukrainians and the international community give russia? some of the things they were talking about, constitutional reforms, a free and fair election, to consider russian interest in all of this says to me it's really now about soothing russia rather than it is those bellicose statements and threats you've heard over the last week. yes, sanctions are possible. but you look at what's happened in europe. they're very divided about it. the u.s. doesn't want to gamble with oil markets. so really russia is in the driver's seat right here. and secretary kerry made clear that those troops are inside russia. they're not inside ukraine. and there's nothing the world can do about it. >> elise, you make a very important point. there's a new baseline in the negotiations between the west

and russia. that baseline is crimea is now part of russia. all the discussions now relate to what happens to east ukraine. do the russian troops go in there? the fact on the ground now is really a dangerous precedent for europe. you have russia crossing borders as secretary kerry said, illegally and illegitimately into ukrainian territory. now has effectively made that part of russia. i think for the sake of our viewers just to explain the wider ramifications here, that has to make others of russia's neighbors very nervous. whether you're in the baltic stakes up in northern, eastern europe or even some of those countries char nwhich are nato , poland, et cetera, that border ukraine. >> and you have -- which voted to join russia. now it's kind of an unclear status. still part of moldova. we're not just talking about the baltic states in europe and the dangerous precedent it sends.

it sends a dangerous precedent for any country around the world that says that basically any country with a strong military can annex another territory. you look at asia and china is making a lot of noise with japan about certain islands. in the gulf there's a dispute between iran and saudi arabia over certain islands. so it sends a dangerous precedent that if you have a strong military and you can annex another country, or another territory of a country, and there's really nothing that the world can do about it because unless you are part of a treaty obligation, such as nato, then there's really nothing the world is going to do to intervene. >> yeah. and the eyes of the world, as you say, watching this. this has ramifications far beyond europe. territorial disputes in asia as you mentioned between china and japan and others. very important story for our viewers. as we said earlier secretary of state john kerry just completing this meeting with the russian foreign minister lavrov. a discussion secretary kerry described in his words as frank

and that they still have not reached agreement, although he said both sides have made suggestions about that huge deployment of russian troops oen the eastern border of ukraine. thanks very much to elise labbott. please stay with us. coming up after this break we're going to be going back to our main story today. that's the missing malaysian airline flight 370. we'll bring our panel of experts back to talk about all the remaining questions that investigators have yet to answer. stay with us. that'll be right after this break. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. everybody knows that. well, did you know bad news doesn't always travel fast? (clears throat) hi mister tompkins. todd? you're fired. well, gotta run. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more.

welcome back. we're going to turn back to our other major story now. search planes are scheduled to return to the skies above the search zone in the southern indian ocean. its mission, to track down those four orange objects spotted yesterday. they're being called the most promising lead so far in finding parts of the missing malaysia airlines plane. each of them is about six feet long, these objects.

experts say they could, emphasis on could, be the plane's emergency escape slides or possibly life rafts. as we possibly get closer to a potential break in the search, devastated families are protesting. they're demanding proof, something to justify the claim by malaysian officials that all lives onboard that plane were lost. within hours o f this protest, a top malaysian official was offering a glimmer of hope to relatives in kuala lumpur. >> miracles do happen. remote or otherwise. that is the hope that the family members want me to convey. >> today's search effort is ramping up as we speak. additional planes and ships will later join the hunt for those four orange objects spotted in the ocean by search planes. our kyung lah is in perth, australia. we were told about 15 minutes ago those first flights were meant to take off. what is their goal today? >> reporter: the goal is to try to knock off more of the search area.

there are going to be more planes in the air today, jim, than yesterday. a total of ten in the air. and on sea, a very important distinction, ten ships expected to be in the sea. the reason that this is so important is the planes can spot all of this material. they can spot some of these objects. you were referencing those four orange pieces that were seen. but you have to verify it by having a ship go out there and pick it up. that's really the key here. and with more of them at sea, there is more hope that perhaps they can figure it out. get to these objects more quickly and verify them more quickly. another important thing that's happening here this morning, in just a few minutes' time we are anticipating the arrival of australia's prime minister here to pearce air base and that he will be making comments this morning. we don't know what he's going to be talking about. the subject has not been made public. he will be arriving here in just a few minutes and then will be

speaking to the press. making some sort of comment, jim. >> is there any indication that he has something important to announce or is this just a regular update rallying the troops there at the search zone? >> reporter: his comments have not been -- we haven't gotten any notification of what he's going to be talking about. the fact that he hasn't released anything like that shouldn't be read as some important announcement. it's most likely that he's probably just coming here to get an update, to make some sort of comment. he has been making a comment every single day. usually from another city in australia. but he's expected to arrive here perhaps to talk to some of the search teams. >> all right. we'll listen out for updates for what he has to say. we've talked a lot about this u.s. pinger locater that had been flown to australia. it's now been loaded on that ship, the ocean shield. we saw some pictures of it. do you know when that heads to the search zone? i suppose the goal, since they don't have a debris field, is just to head out in the general direction of the search zone at this point because that's all they can do? >> reporter: that's exactly

right. it is expected to go out there to sort of be poised to be used. it takes about three days to reach this area. we're expecting that it leaves some time this morning. we haven't been given an exact departure time but it is about this morning, in the next few hours or so, that it will leave. and as you mention, it does -- it is just getting to be poised there. it's going to take about three days. and they want it there. because if there is a debris field found, they want to use it right away. the time is of the essence. we're only looking at about seven to ten days where the black box, before it runs out of batteries. before the pinger is no longer audible. that's why they want it to be poised and ready to go. >> thanks very much to kyung lah in perth, australia. while those planes and boats scour the indian ocean, here at home the secret service is also working the case. leading to questions about whether there could be a terror

link to flight 370's disappearance. cnn aviation correspondent renee marsh joins me now from washington with more. renee, you and i both have been speaking to intelligence officials since this plane disappeared. they've always been saying nothing to indicate a tie to terrorism yet. but they're clearly not closing that door, are they? >> no. absolutely not at this point. as you mentioned there, jim, a senior u.s. government official tells cnn that investigators there are still very much looking at the pilot as well as the co-pilot. but at this point, no aha moment, so to speak. a review of the hard drives from the captain's flight simulator has not raised any red flags. and another source telling cnn that nothing suspicious was found after reviewing the passenger manifest. that said, when it comes to the question of whether someone deliberately took this plane off course, officials continue to believe based on how this plane flew, it suggests a deliberate action inside of the cockpit.

but the question is, was it terrorism? well, today the chair of both the house and senate intelligence committee were asked just that. take a listen. >> well, so far there's been none. and there's speculation, but there's nothing. >> well, i have seen nothing yet that has come out of the investigation that would lead me to conclude that there was some -- anything other than a normal flight that something happened, something went wrong. >> well, you know, that being said, investigators will continue to focus on the pilots. even if there's no physical evidence such as a suicide notice. the reason for that is simply because they really don't have anything else to explain what happened on flight 370. so they continue, again, to look at both of the men who were in the cockpit. jim? >> that's the status of the investigation at this point three weeks later. just keeping the options open, right? i suppose one missing thing when it comes to terrorism is that

there's been no claim of responsibility. at least no credible claim of responsibility since the plane disappeared? >> right. you know, and speaking to officials within -- within the intelligence community, they say generally you would think by now, if this was linked to terrorism, someone would come forward and take responsibility for it. however, the rule is there truly is no rule. so just because someone hasn't come forward doesn't nieecessary mean that terrorism should be or can be taken off the table. so we do know that it doesn't fit under generally what we would see. but, again, as that person said, the rule is no true rule to this one, jim. >> like so many things with this investigation, right? they have to keep their options open. thanks very much to rene marsh in washington. coming up, we're going to bring our expert panel back to talk about the growing challenges searchers face and how long this search could go on. [ male announcer ] this is joe woods' first day of work.

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for now, all the families and the rest of us can do is wait and watch and hope that the plane will be found eventually. i want to bring our panel of experts back. we have miles o'brien, cnn aviation analyst. a licensed pilot himself. director of the center for ocean

engineering science and technology at swingburn university of technology. and a clinical and presenforens psychologist. mime miles, i want to start with you. as we continue this search for the plane, the number of assets involved, ships and planes, it's expensive, they haven't found anything yet, how long before it's reduced as a search operation or even some of the parties involved give up? it can't go on forever if they don't find any clues. >> well, it certainly will become increasingly dangerous to search as the weather gets worse. the sea state will get worse. the flying conditions are not going to get any better. and so eventually when winter comes there's going to have to be a very difficult decision. this is going to be a hard thing to say to the families. we have to stop for several months until the weather gets better. that -- that's a high likelihood at this point. and that's why i think there should be more assets on this

search. you know, eight or ten aircraft covering something the size of new mexico, that's not a lot of eyes given the square mileage that is involved here. so, you know, should there be an aircraft carrier in the region? the navy has said it wouldn't do that much good. i would suggest any number of aircraft with people looking are going to increase your chances aened there is a narrow window. >> you bring up a point. we have talked to the u.s. navy about that. the pentagon's answer has been the u.s. aircraft carriers have commitments. they're deployed in other areas. it's not something they've considered at this time. and that the search planes as you referenced involved in this kind of search couldn't land, so says the pentagon, on a ship. but it does bring up a point because, as you mentioned, there's a short ershorterwin wi. i wonder if i could ask you, alex. this goes to your expertise how

to run a search like this and just the movements of the ocean. i mean, we're already more than three weeks past. as this stretches out, how scattered would this debris field be? and how hard would it be to find little isolated pieces of wreckage, you know, floating out there in the ocean? >> well, jim, let me tell you this. it's perhaps more cooperative with oceanic conditions than the previous area. the waves are not as high as in the previous area. we're talking about waves on average in the month of march, at least, i'm looking at the satellite map, about three, tree and a half meters. maximum waves about four meters. the maximum winds on average, the extreme winds, 12 meters per second which are strong winds but nothing like a hurricane. so this is much better

conditions by comparison with the previous side. as you can imagine, the winds, the waves and the currents do their job and scatter the objects around if there are floating debris. and the speed we're talking about is about, let's say, 50 kilometers per day, perhaps. which would be about 30, 35 miles. but this is not a uni directional distribution. the storms and the waves also scatter objects around. so it is not like they're moving in one particular direction. they are being scattered over the wide area. >> yep. it's been described not as one washing machine, but 1,000 washing machines, the movements of those currents. i wonder if i could bring in

jeff now. you've seen the families, particularly we saw this overflowing of emotion today from the chinese families, you know, continuing to say maybe our relatives are still alive. you know, they even go on to say that information is being hidden from them. that, you know, has, i would imagine, the danger of stretching out the grief period for them. as someone like you who's counseled people in situations like this, is there a point when it is best for families to realistically give up hope? >> i don't think that point ever comes unless you have the credible proof. unless you have the bodies. what ends up happening is when people decide to begin moving on, and some of the family members have decided to do that, they're getting back into their routine, at the same time, even though it's the right thing for them to do emotionally, psychologically, they also feel a tremendous amount of guilt. almost as if they've left their loved ones behind. the hope of that. i think what's happening here,

jim, the biggest problem is going to be that if the media stops covering this at some point, when perhaps search slows down, that the families are going to feel abandoned. already they feel that the media is giving them information more than actually the malaysian government. so that's going to be a real complication as part of that grieving process, if you will, they're going through. >> i heard an interview with the head of the air france flight 447 families a short time ago. and he mentioned that for him, he lost his daughter on the flight. he mentioned that for him he had two sort of periods of grief. when the plane was lost. then two years later in that case when the wreckage was found and some remains were found. he in his case, luckily, you could say, was able to bury remains of his daughter. that prevents a real debilitating prospect, doesn't it? two tragedies. >> that's right. you are talking about two tragedies. here if they never find the bodies, god forbid, even though

they will go through the grieving process, there will always be that open door where they cannot have the complete, the complete grief and resolution of this loss in their life. and it's something that they're going to have to live with for the rest of their natural lives. it's very sad. >> either possibility is a positive one. either you get to or don't get to say good-bye. thank you to jeff gardere, a clinical psychologist. there will be much more coverage of malaysia airline flight 370 ahead. up next an oceanographer explains how the location of one piece of debris can lead investigators back to a plane's crash site. . and i'm michelle. and we own the paper cottage. it's a stationery and gifts store. anything we purchase for the paper cottage goes on our ink card. so you can manage your business expenses and access them online instantly with the game changing app from ink. we didn't get into business to spend time managing receipts, that's why we have ink. we like being in business because we like being creative, we like interacting with people.

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who explains how one piece of debr debris, kind of like a popcorn trail, can lead you back to the crash site. how does that work? >> you're absolutely right. this story has been filled with mysteries. one of those mysteries, of course, is where and when are we going to find this piece of debris that actually belongs to mh-370? once that happens, then what? well, that's when this type of science kicks in. ocean i don't ographers are abl that piece of debris in that part of the indian ocean, from that spot, and then backtrack and show us where that piece of debris came from. >> one of those twirling currents, as we see the animation, i imagined one. there are thousands. >> there's currents. undercurrents. lots of eddies. here's how he explained it. take a listen. >> we can use ocean physics and infer what the currents are doing at the surface. so what we do is we take what these satellites measure.

and then we plug it into a computer program that uses those currents to move material around. you know, inside the program, virtually. >> so if there are objects in the ocean, in these bumps, you're able to measure the movement of those objects? >> exactly. >> of course, we still have to find that piece of debris that is actually a positive id of the mh370 before any of this kicks in. >> they have to back tack from there. more on this later tonight? >> definitely so. where this data comes from, how it's calculated and some of the shortcomings as well. >> thanks. watch the special at 10:00 tonight. we'll have more coverage on the mystery of flight 370 just ahead here. next, the story of a former police officer sitting on death row for a murder he says he didn't commit. peoi go to angie's listt for all kinds of reasons. to gauge whether or not the projects will be done in a timely fashion and within budget. angie's list members can tell you which provider is the best in town. you'll find reviews

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that's the price you pay for being world famous. he meant sign the receipt, fool. greg anthony. haha. hey man, could you sign my hat? he wants my autograph. earn unlimited double miles with no blackout dates from the capital one venture card. what's in your wallet? welcome back. we'll get back to the latest developments on the search for flight 370 in just a minute. but first a former police officer was sent to prison in 1988. convicted of murdering an 11-year-old florida girl. but james dugget continued to maintain his innocence as he sat on death row for more than a decade. >> i'm james r.dugget. we are currently at florida state prison in stark. i'm sentenced to death. so i'm currently on death row. been here since june 30th, 1988.

>> i wrote duggut a letter. tell me more about this situation. i got a big letter back. >> he reached out to me. said i'm a retired detective from miami police department. he said, i want to help you out. i want to see what your case is. i told him that i walked in this building scared to death as a young man. never been inside a prison. never been in any trouble before. and here i am going to death row. i had a career going. i had a beautiful wife. i had two young sons. i had a future that i was moving towards. and all of that was taken for no reason. >> joining me now are steve herm. he was james dugget's trial prosecutor. he prosecuted that case. and beth wells, the appellate attorney for james dugget handling the appeal. beth, if i could begin with you, early on investigators owned in

on ducket. do you think that impacted the investigation as a whole? >> certainly. the victim was last seen less than 400 feet from her house. yet they never even searched her home. there were men living in the home with her mother who weren't related to her by marriage who she had complained about previously to a relative bothering her. so, yes, i definitely think that. >> now, steve, how about you? when you hear an argument like that, you've never wavered in your belief that james duckett is guilty -- that duckett is guilty of this murder. why are you so convinced? >> well, the evidence, jim. and as far as exploring other evidence, it centered on duckett very quickly because of the evidence that was found at the crime scene. beginning with the tire tracks. the tire tracks led investigators to talk to duckett. and he denied ever having been down in the area where the body was dumped the night before. they asked further questions and they processed the car and found her fingerprints on the hood of the car. he denied that she'd ever been on the hood of the car.

so that's why the focus was on jim duckett. there was no reason to suspect a law enforcement officer would do such a horrific crime. >> beth, what's your response? >> other than the evidence. >> when you hear of evidence like that, that steve was talking about. for instance, the fingerprint on the hood of the car, the tire tracks. what's your response? >> well, after trial we discovered a number of things. for example, the tire tracks, one of the police officers, jim's boss at the time, said that he came back after the crime scene tape had been taken down and realized that the plaster for the tire tracks was actually outside where they alleged to have found them. and it was where his car had been parked. and he had the same tires. so i think there's substantial evidence. the fingerprints, presumably she jumped up on the car. mr. duckett had the opportunity and was supposed to wash his car at the end of the night and didn't do it because he was

lazy. if he had actually put her on the car he would have done what he should have done as a police officer. washed the car and gotten rid of that evidence. i don't believe -- she was questioned by the car. i suspect what probably happened is she did jump on the car when he wasn't looking, when he was at the circle k talking to her. >> steve -- i'll let you respond. i'm just curious, first of all, actually, why don't you give your response to what beth had to say. >> well, it's the fingerprints, the tire tracks, duckett's behavior following the report of teresa being missing by her mother. her mother searched around mascot, which is a very, very smo small town. one police officer on duty. she couldn't find the mascot police car. she had to go to a neighbors town of groveland. then they call ed him on the radio. when he came back he put together a photograph after talking to the chief, put together a photograph and a missing poster. but when he went back to the circle k where he'd last been seen he told the clerk, don't put this up. i'll come back with a better picture. he never did.

then within a couple hours he was running stationary radar on highway 50 going through the town writing speeding tickets. now, i used to be a police officer. he'd only been on the department for, i think, less than a year. this was a huge case for him in a small town. a missing girl. and yet he just went back to running radar because he knew exactly where she was. she was not missing as far as he was concerned. so it was his behavior, his explanation of what he'd done when he saw teresa at the store, coupled with the physical evidence including his pubic hair found in her panties that were the deciding factors on prosecuting him. and so far every court that's looked at this has agreed that he's not entitled to a new trial. he got a fair trial. and the evidence that was submitted against him was more than sufficient to justify his conviction and sentence. >> well, it's a fascinating case. i want to thank both of you for making your case in the story of james duckett. steve hurm and beth wells, thaks

for joining us. doin forget to watch cnn's original series "death row stories" tonight at 9:00 eastern right on cnn. questions continue to pour in from our viewers about the mysterious fate of flight 370. up next our panel of experts will tackle some of your questions. stay with us. ...return on investment wall isn't a street... isn't the only return i'm looking forward to... for some, every dollar is earned with sweat,

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each day brings new questions about the mystery of flight 370. and we're answering your questions with our expert panel. remember, you can tweet questions to me @jimschutto #370qs. miles o'brien, alex bobanin. alex, if i could start with you. here's the first question from a viewer. his name is robert. the question is, is it possible the airplane ditched in the ocean intact, leaving little debris? it's an interesting idea considering that happened in the hudson river not far from here in new york. a possibility? >> jim, i'm an oceanographer. i am not an engineer. but i don't see why not. if the plane made an attempt to land rather than crash, then that's certainly a possibility.

>> miles, does that seem possible to you as well? structure on the ocean, obviously different on an ocean than in a river as sully sullenberger famously did in the river here? >> depends on who's flying if it's the autopilot or human being. if it's the autopilot and it's set for a specific speed and altitude, the autopilot will desperately try to maintain both as long as it can even as the engines run dry. what happens as it does that is the nose just starts pitching upward to about a 40-degree upward pitch. that's not a good situation for any aircraft, you can imagine. so then the autopilot gives up. and what we've seen in the simulators is that the aircraft goes down tail first. that could go a couple of ways. that would lead you to believe that it would be landing hitting the water at a relatively slow speed having stalled out. now, if somebody were actually flying it down, the airplane could glide down and, in essence, you can perform a

ditching. but it's pretty hard to ditch in the water at night. so i can't -- i'm not exactly sure at that time after that much flying if they were in daylight conditions or darkness. that would be a key thing. >> no question. miles, let me bring another question from a viewer. this one asks, if military radar was picking up a plane without a transponder, why didn't it raise any flags to deploy help? so that that famous malaysian radar data that saw a plane going across there but not identifying itself? >> or why weren't fighters scrambled. there's a lot of questions there. i think the various governments that might have picked up this primary target, meaning no transponder, on a military radar system, and then there was no response, i think they're a little reluctant to talk about that as you can imagine. it might, for one thing, tell the world about some exploitable holes in their system. or, perhaps, a lack of responsiveness in their air defenses. and that's probably why we're not getting much on that front

right now. which is unfortunate. >> that's been a continuing part of this story, right, is the reluctance of some countries involved to reveal their capabilities, whether by satellite or by radar. alexander, i got another one for you. this is from a viewer, mike. he asked why won't malaysia or inmarsat release the definitive altitude versus time? altitude speed assumptions for the final leg of that trip? i know you were an oceanographer. you've been looking at the possible causes for this trip. what do you think explains that reluctance? >> well, jim, it's hard for me to speculate. this a question which i'm asking myself when i'm watching the news as well. right? this is not so much information about why this kind of decisions are made and why, for example, not only the distance which the plane traveled but also the direction which the plane

traveled was reviewed. >> miles, i got one more question for you just quickly. this is from bill. he asked, if the pilot shuts off acars, that data transmission system, is there an audible alarm that the co-pilot would hear? in other words, could one of the pilots do it and the other one not know? just quickly. >> i don't believe so. we can double-check that with some 777 pilots. my inclination is that that would not be something that would trigger an alarm. >> all right. thanks if s for your answers, m o'brien, alex bobanin in australia. that's it for me. "newsroom" continues with don lemon right after a quick break. lemon right after a quick break. thanks for joining me. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com but he's not. ♪ he's an architect with two kids and a mortgage. luckily, he found someone who gave him a fresh perspective on his portfolio. and with some planning and effort,

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good evening, everyone. i'm don lemon. you're in the c"cnn newsroom."

sex days remain before the battery may die on flight 370's black box recorders. a more extensive search is ramping up with ten planes, ten ships deployed. four orange objects spotted earlier. those orange objects are calmed promi -- called promising leads. >> we did encounter an area which included at least four orange colored objects. greater than approximately two meters in size each. i must stress that we can't confirm the origin of these objects. >> let's not get our hopes up just yet. those very same orange objects could be called ocean trash when crews find them. or they could be the huge break desperately needed to help solve the mystery of flight 370. the whole world is watching and waiting for any physical evidence of ma llaysia flight 3. desperate relatives of