coverage. we're also going to be closely following her comments, along with what the families have to say. there are 13 families directly affected, and wyet that list no released. thanks for watching, everyone. nice to have you with us. my colleague, wolf blitzer, my colleague, wolf blitzer, starts now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com hello, i'm wolf blitzer, reporting from washington. it was the last contact with the malaysia airlines plane before it disappeared. and now we have access to the full conversation between the pilots and air traffic controllers. here's the latest developments. malaysia's transport ministry today released the transcript of the final communication. aviation experts say the last words appear to be routine. but they say the discrepancy with an earlier version raises questions about the entire investigation. chinese ships have checked and ruled out 11 areas where suspicious objects were spotted. that, according to china's state-run news agency.

in all, nine ships, ten military planes and a civilian jet took part in today's search. and a malaysian government source tells cnn, the jetliners turning off the course is being considered a criminal act. either by one of the pilots or someone else on board. so for weeks, we were told the last words from the crew were, quote, "all right, good night." now we've learned the words were actually, quote, "good night malaysian 370." the release of the transcript is raising many questions, and it's also providing a few answers. let's bring in our aviation and government regulation correspondent, rene marsh. walk us through some of the details we've learned from this transcript, which has just been released. >> right. you know what, wolf, we have learned that communications between the cockpit and air traffic control was pretty normal up until it disappeared. so this is the transcript here. just a little bit over two pages long. and we're going to pull from it. we know that at 12:40, according

to this transcript here, the tower instructs 370, it is clear for takeoff from runway 32l, then says good night. then the cockpit repeats the runway, 32r, cleared for takeoff, mass 370. thank you, bye. then in the minutes that follow, nothing out of the ordinary. at 1:19 a.m., the last time anyone would hear from the plane, as it was leaving malaysian air space, heading to vietnamese air space, the tower says, "malaysia, 370, contact ho chi minh 120.9," good night. and then someone in the cockpit says "good night, malaysian 370." the only thing that was missing, the pilot didn't repeat the frequency and the air traffic control center in vietnam. they were heading to. not major. but it does raise some questions. was that an omission made to alert someone something was wrong? as one former 777 pilot brought

up, is a possibility. or were they just being sloppy? it's really hard to say without hearing the tapes to listen for stress in the voice, hear any other background noises that may have been telling. but what we can tell you, wolf, this transcript alone doesn't tell us much, other than the communications between the cockpit and the ground, pretty routine. >> what about the question of whether it was the pilot or the co pilot who was doing the talking? what do investigators think? because in the transcript, it doesn't say who was it actually communicating with ground control. >> right. and at this point, it is unclear to us whether it was a co pilot or the pilot. we know in previous press conferences, they said it was the co pilot. now, they seem to be backing off that a bit. so right now, it is really unclear. but we can tell you this. usually, if the captain is flying, it's the co pilot that does the radio transmission, and vice versa, wolf. >> it all sounds pretty routine. i've read the transcript. they haven't released the actual

audiotape. they have just released the transcript. is there anything specific investigators are focusing on? >> well, they will likely be listening to the voices. that's what we really want to hear, is the recordings. was it the same voice on the ground versus the voice heard once the plane was in the air? do they hear any stress in the voice? are there any other telling sounds in the background that may indicate something was going wrong? was it indeed the pilot or was it the co pilot who was speaking? those are all things they still need to get to the bottom of, if they haven't already, wolf. >> are they explaining why they're not releasing that audiotape? >> well, you know, wolf, they keep on with the same line, which is this investigation is a private investigation. they did release this transcript to the family members. not holding my breath right now that we, meaning the media, will get ahold of those audiotapes, though. >> rene marsh, thanks very much. what is does the release of the

transcript say about the investigation into the plane's disappearance? let's bring in our panel of experts, joining us, mark weise, cnn aviation analyst, former 777 pilot for american airlines. peter goelz is a cnn aviation analyst and former ntsb managing director. tom fuentes is our cnn law enforcement analyst, former assistant director of the fbi. mark, does anything jump out at you? you have read this transcript. you're a seasoned pilot. what does it say to you, if anything? >> well, as rene was saying, what really does stand out to me, and whether it's consequential or inconsequential at this point, we're really not sure. but that last transmission, where he just said -- he did not repeat the next sector he was talking to, which was ho chi minh center, and he did not repeat the frequency. that's standard operating procedure. whether he just was a little lax or sloppy at that, whether he was talking under duress or whether it was not one of the pilots, that's what we don't know. >> it would be -- if you were investigating, you would

actually peter, want to hear the voices and see if there is any ambient sound, anything along those lines, wouldn't you? >> absolutely. you want to hear whether, you know, there were any clicks or whether the seats were moving, whether you could hear the other pilot. or whether you could hear whether the door to the main cabin was open. were you picking up any sounds from first class? certainly, you would want to analyze the original tape as closely as possible. >> so why won't they release that? you have worked with the malaysians, worked with interpoll, you have worked at the fbi. what's the down side from their perspective or releasing the conversation between the cockpit and air traffic controllers? >> i think part of it is it's not strictly a police matter. it's in the hands of the aviation authorities and the defense ministry, and that makes it much different in this situation. but you're right. clearing up the mystery of which person is speaking is fairly easy. it's a small airline. the air traffic controllers, airline management and other pilots would certainly recognize the voices of these pilots and be able to distinguish one from

another or hear if there was particular stress or something unusual. if it was the co pilot, there might be a little extra stress, because he's doing his first ride as, you know, basically coming out of the training program. he's trying to probably impress the captain, who is, you know, renowned in the airline. so, you know, if he's stressful, it would be understandable. >> he at the end of the transcript, the last words, mark, "good night malaysian 370," at 1:19:29, what, two minutes after that, either by coincidence or deliberately, all of a sudden the plane makes a sharp left turn. that sounds as it was leaving malaysian air space, about to enter vietnamese air space, makes a sharp turn like that, unexpected. how do you explain that, other than what there's a lot of suspicion of something sinister going on? >> well, you know, again, with keeping everything on the table, you know, whether there was some

type of mechanical or catastrophic event in the cockpit that forced that aircraft off course, to change heading, to apparently want to go to the nearest land at the nearest suitable airport. but there was no distress call. the acars was off. the transponders were off. that still leads me to believe that was human intervention. again, because the waypoints, the points, the flight path for that aircraft was put in and agreed to on the ground and in the flight management system. that was human intervention. >> and the suspicion has been, as you know, peter, in this no man's land before they enter vietnamese air traffic controllers after they leave malaysian air traffic controllers, if you're going to do something, that might be the time to do it. >> sure. sloppiness at the ho chi minh center. although ho chi minh did radio another malaysian plane 10 or 12 minutes after the last transmission and say, hey, have you heard from malaysian 370. and said, well, i reached them, but there was a little garble, i

couldn't understand. i'm interested in that transmission very much so. because that was ten minutes after. >> you're agreeing. >> absolutely. because, you know, this plane has been turned over to ho chi minh air traffic control. and the controllers at kl would have radioed ahead or called on the phone. >> kuala lumpur, kl. >> text messages, saying this plane is leaving our air space, coming into your air space. when it doesn't come, they try to check with another airline from the same company, from malaysian airlines, saying, you know, can you raise your pilot. they try, they hear something garbled. at that point, you have kuala lumpur officials and ho chi minh officials saying, neither of us have any idea what happened to this airplane. we have lost coverage. we've lost the signal. we're not in radio contact. you would think at that point all the bells and whistles go off. >> yeah. >> in the whole -- >> seems to be a lot of incompetence on that part of the investigation. >> we don't know. >> we don't know what happened. but they've got a lot more information they should be

releasing. all right. we'll have you back. we have viewers' questions, as well. a lot of good questions coming in. we'll get back to the search for flight 370 in a few moments. first, there's a developing story out of brussels happening right now. nato is taking an extraordinary step cutting off all practical cooperation with russia. that's both civilian and military alliances. it's in response to russia's actions in ukraine and the deployment of russian troops near the border. let's go to our pentagon correspondent, barbara starr. barbara, the u.s. and european union had already cut off some ties with russia. but this seems to be a powerful, much more dramatic step. >> reporter: wolf, this is the 28-member nations of nato, including the united states, taking that step, fundamentally sending a message like you have not seen to moscow, since the fall of the soviet union. ending all practical cooperation with the russians today. there will be some ambassadorial level talks. but that will be it. and they are doing this because

of the ukraine situation and nato's belief, along with the u.s., there are still 40,000 russian troops on ukraine's eastern border. what will all of this mean? look, some of it may be symbolic. but it also sends a very clear message. russia and nato, along with the u.s., cooperate in nuclear ballistic missile testing by the russians. that's going to be an issue. that notification, that very precise cooperation, has to continue. russian bombers often fly over northern europe and along the alaska coastline. that's going to be an issue. it's going to have to continue. nato supplies. in and out of afghanistan. often transit through russian territory air space and land. that is going to be an issue. u.s. helicopters sails of russian helicopters to the afghan army. so undoing these ties is very significant. and what nato is really doing along with the u.s. today is

saying we stand with eastern europe. there are also a number of moves to shore up the east european allies. believe it or not, we are talking about trying to provide military support to countries like poland, the baltics, romania, all the countries that broke away from the old soviet union in the face of this crisis, looking to nato, looking to washington for more help. wolf? >> what about something practical, like u.s.-russian cooperation in the elimination, the destruction of syria's chemical weapons? there was extensive cooperation. how does that fit into this? >> reporter: i think that's a great question. because, of course, for the u.s., the cooperation with russia on the tess trucks of syria's chemical weapons, the cooperation on trying to get russia to get assad out of power, the russian cooperation on -- to try and get iran to give up its nuclear program. you know, this -- these are the fundamental issues at stake, where the u.s. and moscow,

everyone, will tell you, still really need to cooperate. but unless they can get some resolution on the ukraine situation, which is fundamentally getting vladimir putin to agree to pull back and assure the world once and for all he has no designs to have his forces march into ukraine, until they can do that, many officials will tell you, they just can't make progress on the other. and wolf, i think it's really fair to say, this situation really right now rewrites the map of europe and the relationship with moscow and the east european allies in a way that it has not since the fall of the soviet union. >> we're going to check with nasa to see how this impacts u.s. russian cooperation with space because astronauts have been relying on the russians to get them there, get them back in the aftermath of the cancellation of the u.s. space shuttle. thanks very much. a very important story developing out of nato. we'll continue to monitor that. just ahead, the best hope of

finding flight 370 may rest with this australian ship, if it can get to the search area in time. we'll have a live report from perth, australia. that's coming up. and later, the health care deadline has now come and gone. did the white house yoef come computer problems to log a win? we're taking a closer look. you have time to shop for car insurance today? yeah. i heard about progressive's "name your price" tool? i guess you can tell them how much you want to pay and it gives you a range of options to choose from. huh? i'm looking at it right now. oh, yeah? yeah. what's the... guest room situation? the "name your price" tool, making the world a little more progressive.

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>> of i have to say, in my experience, and i have got a lot of experience in search and rescue over the years, this search and recovery operation is probably the most challenging one i have ever seen. >> our paula newton is in perth, australia, watching the story unfold. this is a very daunting search in every possible way, paula. how soon before the ship, the "ocean shield" will arrive in that search area to get that pinger locater down there and see what happens? >> reporter: it should be there by thursday, wolf. but here's the thing. in speaking to the commander there, u.s. navy captain mark matthews, he is saying, look, even when they're prepositioned there, they really can't use that equipment, wolf. the search zone has to be reduced to something about 1,000 times size smaller than the size it is right now. i mean, think about that. they still haven't gotten to those modeling areas, the

satellite imagery, any kind of discounting of the area they're already looking at. they're not there yet, to be able to reduce the size. in fact, he told me the "ocean shield" would do what every other ship is doing, looking for debris. in the meantime, the hope is within the next 48 to 72 hours when the "ocean shield" is on the scene, they'll be able to reduce it somewhat so they can get that equipment out there looking for the black boxes. wolf? >> as you know, paula, the search for flight 370 could be modified, even curtailed, if no debris in the coming days is found. here's what the man coordinating the search efforts in australia said. >> but inevitably, i think if we don't find wreckage on the surface, we are eventually going to have to probably in consultation with everybody who has a stake in this, review what we do next. >> so paula, it's been almost, what, 26 days, still nothing. do you have a sense how much longer they will keep looking,

what they'll do, if, in the coming few days they find nothing? >> reporter: well, when i was speaking to chief houston earlier today, wolf, we're not talking about days so much as we are weeks and months. and what he is saying is, this kind of tasking of ships, of airplanes, can't go on indefinitely. it will just be fruitless. they might have to try another strategy. and you might see the intensity coming down a notch. he was clearly, though, wolf, preparing the families for the fact that they're going to give this a good shot over the next few weeks, perhaps months. but then after that, they're really going to take a -- have to take a good, hard look at the evidence that they've gathered so far and what they do next to try and find that plane. >> paula newton, reporting from perth, australia. thank you. we'll have much more coverage of the mystery of flight 370. that's coming up. also, open enrollment is over. so did the white house reach the target goal on health care? we're taking a closer look at how it ended and if the president has something to crow about. every day, people fall.

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the general motors chief, mary barra, will face tough questions on capitol hill, beginning less than an hour from now. lawmakers are demanding to know why gm waited more than ten years to recall millions of vehicles with faulty ignition switches. gm says switches can unexpectedly turn off, disabling major components of the car. the flaw has been linked to 13 deaths. families of the victims held their own press conference in washington ahead of the hearing, including a father who lost his teenage stepdaughter. >> my wife, jane, lost everything. natasha was her only child.

there will be no boyfriend troubles, no wedding day jitterses, no children for natasha or grandchildren. no family member to care for her as she grows older, just a hole in her heart for the daughter she so loved. >> today's hearing comes a day after gm recalled another 1.3 million vehicles for an unrelated flaw affecting power steering. the deadline for health insurance open enrollment has come, but wasn't gone quite yet. a senior administration official is on target to hit 7 million sign ups. chief political analyst gloria borger is here with us right now. gloria, what, the president is going to speak at 4:15 from the white house rose garden later today. is this sort of the beginning of a victory lap? >> i think when you talk to people at the white house, they don't want to talk about it as a victory lap or crowing and saying we told you so. because this rollout has been so

plagued with problems. what i think you're going to hear the president say is that we have reached the goal we have set originally, despite all of the problems we have had coming into this. and that he knows that it's been a rocky road. but now they're on the path to making this affordable care act start to work for the american people. i'm presuming that's what the president will say. >> people had trouble enrolling because of last-minute computer glitches, they have another 15 days to go ahead and do it. >> a lot of slipped deadlines. >> problems at the state computer. they'll have a month or so. still time for that 7 million number, assuming they have reached that 7 million, to go even higher. >> wolf, there are a lot of unanswered questions here. and you don't want to rain on their parade. really, honestly, nobody anticipated they would get to this 7 million point. i don't even think folks at the white house anticipated it, given the problems. >> the initial problems. >> but we still don't know the

answers to some basic questions, which is how many previously uninsured people have enrolled. how many people who have enrolled have paid. and very important question here, wolf, what is the risk pool going to look like. how many of these people are younger, healthier people. at this point, the number 27%. but that needs to -- that needs to get higher. so these are questions that still remain, and that need to be answered. the largest of which, though, is, wolf, how much will people's premiums go up in the next four to five months. because while republicans may be quieted now for a little bit, although i doubt it, but at least the plan is up and running, the big question is, what kind of increases are people going to see in their insurance premiums, and that will happen right at the time you sort of get in the heat of the midterm elections. and if premiums go up substantially, that would give republicans something to run on.

>> i suspect in the last few days a lot of younger people, knowing younger people as you and i know them, they're probably the last-minute people to sign up. that percentage -- >> this also doesn't include what some estimate to be another 4.5 million medicaid recipients. >> in addition to this -- >> also going to get their health care. >> all right. thanks very much, gloria. president obama will make that statement on the affordable care act at 4:15 p.m. eastern in the rose garden over at the white house. we'll have live coverage for all of our viewers. malaysian officials have now released the full transcript of communication between flight 370 and air traffic controllers. i'll ask a pilot with 30 years of flying experience, what he thinks of those conversations. ♪ [ male announcer ] when fixed income experts... ♪ ...work with equity experts... ♪ ...who work with regional experts... ♪ ...who work with portfolio management experts,

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welcome back. i'm wolf blitzer, reporting from washington. the search for malaysia airlines flight 370, now entering day 26 and there's still no sign of the missing plane. here's the latest developments. malaysia's transport ministry today released the transcript of the final communication between the plane and the air traffic controllers that provides no clues about the plane's disappearance. but it does highlight the criticism over malaysia's handling of this investigation. ten aircraft, nine ships, covered 46,000 square miles of the southern indian ocean today. search coordinators have not announced any -- any significant finds. and the head of australia's new joint agency coordination center warns the search could drag on,

in his words, for a very long time. so is there anything revealing in those transcripts? let's bring in kit darby, retired united airlines pilot who flew for 30 years, also the president of kit darby aviation consulting. kit, thanks very much for coming in. so you've read the transcript. to me, the average layperson, it sounds pretty routine. did you see anything at all unusual in those conversations? >> no, wolf. i have to say. and it's not textbook, but it's perfectly normal. i think the most remarkable thing is that it is so normal prior to someone or something ending all communications. >> is it bother you that the final words were not necessarily completely standard? it was a little deviation of what the standard final words would be, when you're leaving the malaysian air space going into svietnamese air space? >> no, sir. the readback of the clearance would have been one thing that would have been missing. but late at night, you know,

this is -- shortcuts are taken like this all of the time. i don't think there was any lapse until there was nothing, and then, of course, after that, who knows. >> because the final words were "good night, malaysian 370." in the protocol, what would have been the correct way of leaving malaysian air space and entering -- if you were doing it, entering vietnamese air space? >> well, on the final goodbye to malaysia, he would have repeated the frequency given to him. and as he would have checked in, checked in with his altitude and he would have been acknowledged and he would be on his way. >> is it important to release the actual audiotapes so we can hear the conversation? >> well, i'm sure every bit of real information, and there is so little real information, could be reassuring to those searching for every tidbit, certainly the survivors here are desperate for actual information. but i don't believe it will change the outcome in any way. >> what does it say to you? and i've asked this question frequently, but i'm anxious to get your thoughts.

that two minutes after the final "good night" when the pilot or co pilot -- they're not saying who said it, "good night malaysian 370," two minutes after that, as they left malaysian air space, entering vietnamese air space, all of a sudden the plane makes the sharp left turn, goes off its course, supposed to go towards beijing, but then makes a left turn, goes over the peninsula towards the indian ocean. what does that say to you, that that started two minutes after the good night? >> to me, when i look at it as a pilot, i see an aircraft turning around. several reasons for that. if it was anything attacking the cockpit, anything that was a threat to the airplane. the pilot would want to get the airplane on the ground right away, would turn back toward malaysia, would descend. we now have some evidence that that descent occurred, and we certainly have the turn. so a normal pilot reaction to any kind of threat or, of course, it could be an action of someone either in the cockpit or outside the cockpit takingel kro of the plane and making a nefarious act.

>> malaysian sources are telling cnn, they're deeply suspecting some sort of criminal act to make that plane go off its regular route, towards beijing. are you ready to make that conclusion? >> no, sir. to me, you know, to turn back and descend would be a normal pilot reaction to an emergency. we have no evidence that there was an emergency. or a threat. we really can't choose here. if it was a threat, then obviously it could be a crime. it could simply be the pilot -- at this point, we can't tell the difference between hero and terrorist. >> well, what -- let's talk a little bit about the notion that if, in fact, there was an emergency, some mechanical problem, wouldn't there have been a way to at least communicate with ground control, with air traffic controllers, mayday, mayday, we've got a big problem here? >> there are many ways to communicate. on the acars, several different radios, there's many ways to communicate. but i'll tell you. the old of a ate, navigate and communicate. if the pilot has got his hands full, the last thing he's going

to do is communicate. he's going to get it under control and then he's going to communicate. and there is also the possibility of small errors operating the intercom panel, you know, relatively inexperienced pilot -- a -- what could be a life threatening situation. small mistakes could be made that would limit the initial communication. but certainly over the long term, over the life of this flight, there would be no justification for no communication. >> kit darby, thanks very much for joining us. >> thank you. there's much more ahead on the search for flight 370, including questions about the operation itself, whether a lack of communication delayed the discovery of the right search zone. that's coming up. marge: you know, there's a more enjoyable way to get your fiber. try phillips fiber good gummies. they're delicious, and a good source of fiber to help support regularity. wife: mmmm husband: these are good! marge: the tasty side of fiber. from phillips.

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more than a dozen countries are now taking part in the search for flight 370, but that partnership may have actually hindered the search. brian todd has been taking a closer look at possible communication breakdowns. what do you see?

>> we have seen the communication problems that the malaysian government has had with the reporters and the public in trying to disseminate the information. now a new report saying that there was a problem coordinating the two, at least two investigative teams, in this investigation. the "wall street journal" today reporting it was a lack of coordination between the teams that actually led them to search that wrong area, presumably the wrong area, of the southern indian ocean. and that first initial big search. about 1,500 miles southwest of perth. the journalists citing people familiar with the matter saying that to determine the plane's path, one team was calculating the speed and the fuel consumption rate of the plane based on radar, and the plane's past performance. while another team worked separately, using pretty much just satellite data, and was only after the information from both those teams was merged, that they actually shifted the search area, 700 miles to the northeast, where the search area is right now. but they wasted several precious days in the other area, because simply they didn't coordinate the information between the two

teams. and that is, of course, a criticism of the way the malaysians are handling information, disseminating information. we have tried to get response from the joint coordination center in australia, tried to get response from the malaysians. no immediate response to that. but the malaysian transportation minister has said, look, we have done the best we could with the information we've gotten. that this is kind of an evolving process. they have defended their handling of this. but this is a kind of damning report on their coordination or lack thereof. getting these teams, these investigative teams to actually share the information, cross reference and come up with the best data. >> australians are now leading the investigation, the search investigation, right? >> you know, it would seem that. they're clearly taking the lead from perth, in that joint coordination center, they have just set up, by the way, three weeks in. it is australian vessels and planes out there really in force more than any other nation's resources. you get the impression the australians are leading this, but the malaysians are part of

it, and the malaysians have to be part of it, of course. but again, we have seen these criticisms all along, wolf, in the three weeks -- three-plus weeks we have been into this of how the malaysians are handling this. this is another point of criticism and we're trying to get some response. >> all right, brian, thanks very much. we're also here to answer your questions about the search for flight 370. send us your questions to twitter. use the hash tag 370qs. experts will offer responses. that's coming up next. before larry instantly transferred money from his bank of america savings account to his merrill edge retirement account. before he opened his first hot chocolate stand calling winter an "underserved season". and before he quit his friend's leaf-raking business for "not offering a 401k." larry knew the importance of preparing for retirement. that's why when the time came he counted on merrill edge to streamline his investing and help him plan for the road ahead. that's the power of streamlined connections. that's merrill edge and bank of america.

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every day, we receive hundreds of questions from our viewers who want a better understanding about what it is that is not being done in the search for flight 370. let's bring back our panel of experts to tackle some of these questions. our aviation analyst, mark weise, and peter goelz and law enforcement analyst, tom fuentes. let's get right to the questions. tony tweets, why this long before releasing the transcript to the public? no doubt the malaysian authority hindered success of the search. >> great question. i have no idea why they waited this long. >> they should have released it right away. two-and-a-half pages, basically. >> yes. >> mark, here's a question from you. this is from paul, a pilot. isn't it true that lots of information can be developed from the recording? i have detected alarms, engine speed and dialogue in cases. >> yes. you can. absolutely get a lot of the information from the recordings. we just need to have those recordings. >> and if there is tension in the voices, you can maybe discern that, as well.

>> you can tell the stress level sometimes. as was brought out earlier, this was the first flight for the first officer with a very senior captain, so he may have been a little more stressed. but really would depend on how stressed he would have been. >> because you could compare those audiotapes with previous flights they both had to see if there is any change in their voice. if you want to go that way. peter, adam tweets, can the s.a.t. go to original position to recreate ping scenario with current flights malaysia to beijing, establishing a reference? >> well, i think it can go to the -- the satellite can go to the original position. it can retrace its path. but it can't retrace the path of the aircraft. >> because it did make that sharp left turn. >> that's right. >> for whatever reason. tom, chadwell asks, how long before the mh-370 search returns to the previous area, and when will inmarsat release ping data for independent review? >> i don't know the answer to either one of those. inmarsat, of course, is

providing the information to the malaysians and the results of their analysis. as far as the search areas, one other thing about the search area is that unlike a crash on land, you have an area that's moving. and even if you search one day and everything is clear, it doesn't mean that debris doesn't drift in another day and you have to go back to where you've already searched once. so, the idea of how many years this is going to take to search the ocean on the surface, anyway, they're going to have to go back and research. >> could take forever. peter. when a boeing 777 crashes into the ocean, does it create seismic data? wouldn't that tell where it crashed? >> well, it certainly creates a sound and a noise. it does not create seismic data. in twa flight 800, there were listening devices that did pick up the sound of the aircraft hitting the water. but these devices were relatively shallow water, and picked up the sound. in this case, unlikely. >> jake writes this, mark, i'll

ask you to go on this one. what changes will be implemented for future air travels technology. because a bunch of changes should be coming forward. i've said publicly i think they need some sort of international or presidential commission to learn from the lessons of malaysian flight 370 to make sure whatever happened doesn't happen again. >> jake, you know, the situation is this. ntsb and all the other investigating agencies will come up with a probable cause. now it's going to be up to the governments to have pressure put upon them by the traveling public, by the airline organizations, by aviation organizations to make something happen. we know that technology exists. to prevent this type of prolonged agony from continuing on in the future. and i think wolf is absolutely right. >> peter, i think two changes should go forward as quickly as possible.

making it impossible to turn off the transponder in elevation. that would be relatively easy change. and the other one is livestream the flight data and voice recorders so even if the plane is lost and you lose those black box, you'll still have that information. >> questions raised about live streaming in terms of the data pipe and whether this would overload the satellites, but those questions can really be addressed now. and you can do it if the plane leaves into an unusual attitude or violates its flight plan. there's a number of ways you can address that. there's no reason not to have those two changes almost immediately. >> i think they should look at putting a video camera in the cockpit, too, but i know pilots don't like that. we'll continue this tomorrow as we always do. i'll have much more coverage of the mystery of flight 370. that's coming up.

also, a spy and a political pawn. discussing the fate of jonathan j. pollard. what would his release mean to the peace process? we'll take a closer look. they work fast on heart burn and taste awesome. these are good. told ya! i'm feeling better already. alka-seltzer fruit chews. enjoy the relief!

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this is cnn breaking news. >> the white house has just announced that 7 million, 41,000 people have signed up for coverage under the affordable care act. that from the white house press secretary jay carney just moments ago. they've reached their anticipated goal of seven million. the white house making that announcement. the president will be speaking about it at 4:15 p.m. eastern from the rose garden at the white house. we'll have live coverage. once again, according to the white house, 7,041,000 people have signed up for coverage under the affordable care act.

there are now rumblings out there that a deal may be close between the united states and israel on the release of jonathan jay pollard. pollard an american civilian government employee working for naval intelligence was convicted of passing u.s. military secrets to israel. he was sentenced to life in prison back in 1987. pollard's status was likely part of the discussion between the secretary of state john kerry and the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu when they met earlier today. kerry will be back in israel tomorrow. joining me now, middle east analyst now with the wilson international center here in washington. you just wrote a tough piece, very strong piece for "time" magazine. you can't trade pollard for peace. why not? >> it's logic. it's compelling logic. four u.s. presidents. ronald reagan, george h.w. bush, bill clinton twice, and george w. bush twice, when faced with israeli entreaties declined to

release pollard. clinton came close at the wide river summit in october of 1998. but neither on security grounds nor was the quo ever worth the quid. so the question you have to ask yourself, why would barack obama and john kerry consider doing something that four presidents wouldn't do? >> i guess it's partly to keep the peace process with the palestinians going right now. because the israelis are being asked to release dozens, if not hundreds of palestinian prisoners. some who have been convicted for terrorism, murder, other crimes. the israelis are ready to do that. and so what's the big deal if they release pollard, who served almost 30 years? >> the big deal is this, it seems to me, that releasing pollard isn't going to answer the mail with respect to what ails the peace process. what ails the peace process is not the absence of prisoner releases, and it's certainly not jonathan pollard. it's fundamental mistrust between netanyahu and abbas. we're going to find ourselves three, four, five months from now faced with the same

predicament. it seems to me, it's actually pretty compelling, that if you can't get something consequential for pollard, why trade him? trade him for time. if you told me we're getting the fix to jerusalem borders, we're getting a framework agreement, i'd be right there breaking open the champagne. if the president wants to let pollard go, let him release pollard on humanitarian grounds. served long enough, he's ill, let him do that. but don't conflate jonathan pollard's apples to peace process's oranges and undermine the morale of the peace process. >> if this makes it easier for prime minister netanyahu to make the kinds of concessions the palestinians want, the u.s. want, for domestic political reasons, because as you know pollard is a big issue over there in israel, a lot of israelis think he was betrayed by the israeli government itself. if this makes it easier for netanyahu to make those kinds of concessions, whether settlements or jerusalem or whatever, wouldn't that be worth it from

the u.s. perspective? >> if the release of jonathan pollard would induce the prime minister of israel to fundamentally change positions on jerusalem borders, security and refugees -- >> so-called final status issues. >> well, absolutely. wolf, it won't. and you remember in the fall of 2010, the administration, in order to secure a two-month extension of the settlements freeze, wouldn't etch give the israelis f-35s and a lot of other military equipment for a two-month extension. this, wolf, is a tactic in search of a stratstrategy. pollard is like a fallen soldier to them. they abandoned him. as you know, you wrote the book on it. they abandoned him. their asking is not the problem. the issue is why are we acquiescing, and to buy time for a process that is fundamentally impaired. >> it's not a done deal yet. >> it sure isn't. >> we'll see what happens. i remember the y river talks.

but george tenant said he would resign. >> and we got the deal without pollard. >> coming up, i'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern, a special two-hour edition of "the situation room." "newsroom" with brooke baldwin starts right now. thank you, wolf blitzer. great to be with you here on this tuesday. i'm brooke baldwin. this is cnn's special live coverage of two major stories unfolding right now. first, as wolf has been reporting here, time is running out on the search for flight 370. sources in the malaysian government are now calling that dramatic left turn -- their words, a criminal act. we will tell you why. also, any moment now, on capitol hill, these are live pictures inside this house subcommittee room. families who believe their loved ones were killed because general motors took years to announce a recall, are about to hear from the company's ceo. and that is where we begin this hour here in washington, in this room here