g. >> thanks so much. check out our show page at cnn.com/thelead for video, blogs and extras. that is it for "the lead." i'm john berman. i turn you over to wolf blitzer in "the situation room." happening now, impossible recovery. new images emerging of an airliner which disintegrated when it slammed into a french mountainside. airline officials say the plane was in quote, perfect technical condition. so what caused its fatal plunge? shattered evidence as investigators search for one black box, they retrieve crucial audio files from the other. can they piece together what happened? americans on board. three americans, including a mother and daughter from virginia were among the 150 people killed in the flight flight 9525 crash. so what is the family saying? and charged with desertion. a u.s. soldier held for years by the taliban before a controversial prisoner swap is formally charged with desertion

and misbehavior before the enemy. what's next for sergeant bowe bergdahl? i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." we're following two breaking stories this hour. investigators are gathering new clues into the horrific crash of an airliner that disintegrated when it slammed into the french alps. they have managed to retrieve a usable audio file from the cockpit voice recorder. the other black boxes still have not been recovered. conditions are extraordinarily difficult at the crash site. recovery teams must be lowered by helicopter. the state department now says a third american was among the 150 people who perished in the crash. two of the three americans identified as a mother and daughter from virginia. also tonight, a dramatic announcement from the united states military. sergeant bowe bergdahl who walked away from his base in afghanistan back in 2009 and was exchanged last year for five taliban prisoners, has now been

charged with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. our correspondents our analysts and guests are all standing by with the very latest. let's begin with flight 9525 the investigation. our senior international correspondent nic robertson, he's near the crash scene. >> reporter: rescue helicopters are taking off here in seyne-les-alpes, traveling to the site where germanwings flight 9525 crashed. some investigators were dropped wednesday morning from the choppers on to the rugged remote crash site in the french alps. investigators are scouring the scene for a second day searching for clues about what caused the crash that killed 150 people on

board. so far, the cockpit voice recorder which records sounds and cockpit conversations has been found, although the external orange casing is damaged, french aviation investigators assess the computer chips inside which contain an audio recording of the cockpit during the entire flight. investigators didn't reveal when the pilots' voices can be heard during the critical final ten minutes. after meeting with rescue workers and thanking them for their efforts, french president francois hollande german chancellor angela merkel and spain's prime minister addressed the media. alongside the casing of the second black box, the plane's flight data recorder was also located. >> translator: the second black box is being looked for. its box, its outside frame has been found but unfortunately, not the black box itself. >> reporter: the so-called black boxes could provide critical

clues about why the flight from barcelona to dusseldorf germany crashed midflight. >> we really do need that flight data recorder as well to provide a full view of what happened to that aircraft just before impact. >> reporter: france's interior minister told local tv bfm tv we cannot completely rule out terrorism. but he said it's not considered the most likely explanation for the wreck. there was no distress call from the aircraft but at this press conference the head of the investigation team said the debris suggests the plane hit the ground and then broke apart instead of exploding in flight. investigators also say radar followed the plane to just over 6,000 feet which is virtually the point of impact. so what we are expecting tomorrow families of the victims are expected to arrive

here. they will be accommodated in the little village near in a town. what they expect to be able to see is an ongoing effort. we are expecting to see helicopters again but so far, none of the victims' bodies have been recovered from the mountainside yet. >> what a gruesome task all of that is. nic, thanks very much. we will get back to you. crash investigators have managed to hear some audio from one of the black boxes. that would be the cockpit voice recorder. so far, they have only found the outer shell of the flight data recorder. let's go to our aviation correspondent rene marsh. she is working this part of the story. what are you learning? >> well after an accident a plane's flight recorders are the priority for investigators. these recorders are the most critical pieces of evidence essentially capable of unlocking the mystery of what went wrong. what you're looking at here is this is what happens when it gets taken to the lab. that board you're looking at there, that is the crucial piece. that is the memory board which will hold all of that critical

data and you can see the material that was just taken off, it is very heavily insulated with thermal insulation. the orange portion of the box that you usually see, that is what essentially protects this. this is what investigators are going to be plugging into their computers, they are going to be downloading. specifically we know in this case they have the cockpit voice recorder so what's going to be on that? well on these pieces here and on these little chips here they are going to be able to listen in for sounds anything from voices people who they may hear sounds of perhaps alerts going off in the cockpit, perhaps other individuals' voices. they are going to be listening to all of that and they are listening to that within teams. sometimes teams of six, sometimes a team of eight. if something is not audible, they will listen to it again. but i just want you to look at

just how protected it is and although we saw that photo of the cockpit voice recorder in which essentially it looks smashed from this specific aircraft and this is it you can see that it looks on the outside like it would be damaged but when you open it up, most times the majority of times, investigators say they are able to retrieve information. it can withstand just the most critical the most extreme temperatures. we know it can withstand being submerged in water up to 20,000 feet of water. air france 447, for example, was on the ocean floor for two years and they were still able to pull data off of that off the recorders. >> obviously very very sturdy. let's hope they find them both. thanks very much. three americans were aboard the airliner. two of those crash victims, a mother and daughter from just outside washington in virginia.

suzanne malveaux is on the scene for us. suzanne, very very sad story there. >> reporter: it really is. this is one of those times when an international story really hitting home in the community here in virginia. the houses are separate they are far apart. the neighbors don't know each other very well but are still very much impacted by this loss by this tragedy. we are able to reach a relative of the family who released a statement to us saying i will read it for you, our entire family is deeply saddened by the losses of yvonne and emily selke, two wonderful caring amazing people who meant so much to so many. at this difficult time we respectfully ask for privacy and your prayers. the family members, some of those family members gathered inside of a home to do just that. we have gathered information, we have been learning so much about these two. this mother/daughter team because there have been so many statements from the community, people who want to express what they were like. we know yvonne selke was an employee at booze allen hamilton

in washington, d.c. for more than 22 years, that she was an excellent employee and that we know her daughter emily, an amazing student, very popular, 4.0 grade point average from woodbridge high school went on to drexel university 2013 graduated with honors. also sorority member. she worked as well in hospitality. a statement was released about her saying she was dedicated, helpful, always willing to go the extra mile. her genuine bright smile and quick wit will be missed. we should tell you as well raymond selke has actually spoken to cnn and you can imagine he is very distraught. he does not want to speak publicly but he has expressed his thanks his appreciation for support and he has also asked for privacy as well. >> we will honor that request, of course. thanks very much suzanne malveaux on the scene for us outside washington in northern virginia. joining us now our aviation analyst, former ntsb managing

director paul goals. tom fuentes, former fbi assistant director. also joining us our aviation analyst miles o'brien. peter, you dealt with a lot of the family members in an investigation after a plane crash like this. it's really important to keep them informed about what's going on right? >> it really is, wolf. lufthansa i think has done an outstanding job so far. they really have seemed to have the -- following the playbook to the letter. i thought the press conference this afternoon from the two ceos was particularly effective. i think they are doing a good job. but family members have such a need to know facts, to know -- and to know it first. that's what's critical. >> i hope they keep all these family members informed. tom, you worked at the fbi. we understand three fbi agents are now working with the french part of this investigation. if you were one of those fbi agents what would you be looking for? >> normally the agents wouldn't

be right at the crime scene right now. what they would be doing is gathering the flight manifest information, passenger list crew list information about the pilot, co-pilot to run through fbi data bases all over the world. and to assist the french the spanish and the german authorities and the other countries with nationals on the plane, in notifying them communicating with them about the passengers that were on that plane. >> in other words, you go through all 150 people on the plane. the pilot, the co-pilot flight attendants all the passengers and you have their names and what do you look for? you look to see if there's something suspicious there. >> absolutely. is there any sign one could have been a terrorist, could have been radicalized, could have been psychotic. we don't know what happened yet. we don't know the results of the analysis of the cockpit voice recorder. so you don't know if somebody in the cockpit had a problem, one of the two, the pilot or co-pilot or if somebody broke

into that maybe when the door opened when one of them came out to use the restroom someone else could have gotten into the cockpit. that's unknown at this point. we have not heard what conversations took place in that cockpit. >> it's interesting, the french president francois hollande said today they are looking at the interior trying to find the interior of the flight data recorder. this is a flight data recorder. the outside, they apparently found the shell of it but haven't found the important stuff that's inside. how unusual is that? >> it is unusual. these data recorders as you see are very well armored. they are put together to with withstand extraordinary destructive forces. i think it's indicative of how hard this plane hit the ground that the outside casing it's a quarter of an inch of solid stainless steel plus insulation. if that's been breached i think there's going to be a challenge to find the recorder. the actual computer chips that

have the data on it. but they will find them. >> this is a flight data recorder something similar to this. they did find the cockpit voice recorder but it was obviously badly mangled, the exterior. but there's useful information on -- they say there is some two hours of conversation but what's most intriguing is they haven't been willing to say to us whether they hear anything during the final eight to ten minutes of that doomed flight. >> that's right. the b.e.a. the french investigative agency was specific. they said they heard sounds voices and alarms. now, hearing alarms would indicate might indicate that they have good tape to the very end of the accident. but i think we can count on the french on releasing some more information as they go through it. it's a painstaking job and you've got to have full agreement on what you're listening to before you make it public. >> let me go to miles o'brien.

if in fact the last eight or ten minutes of that cockpit voice recorder has no sound from human beings the pilot or co-pilot or anyone else for that matter, tell our viewers what that means. >> well it certainly fits a scenario where you had some sort of decompression event, wolf. some event where the pilots were overcome by hypoxia, lack of oxygen. we saw this crash, this type of crash a few years ago over greece. the helios air crash, decompression was gradual, the crew eventually lost consciousness and the plane flew on on auto pilot. however, it didn't go -- descend in an erratic way which is what we see here. this is not a classic emergency rapid descent, nor is it really just a simple auto pilot descent unless there was some problem with the overspeeding. so the other side of this is it could have been some sort of deliberate act of some kind by either the crew or some other

individual and there was no conversation. but you know it's a little early to go in either direction on this but i can tell you this. it doesn't fit the typical scenario for an emergency where a call would come out, the descent would begin and the crew would be able to tell air traffic control what was happening. >> yeah. it's a real, real mystery right now. all of you please stand by. we have a lot more information coming in including information on the perilous conditions confronting the recovery teams at the crash site. so remote and steep, the only way to get there is by helicopter. we are also getting new insights into important clues experts find in the photographs of the plane's scattered wreckage.

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we're following the breaking news recovery crews spent today combing through the nearly unrecognizable fragments of an airliner that hit a french mountainside killing all 150 people on board. cnn's brian todd is joining us. he has more on the incredible challenges that await those who are working this investigation. brian? >> tonight, so many obstacles facing the recovery teams. officials are telling us the terrain is steep, rugged unstable so unstable that investigators at the site have to be tied to one another. that makes it more difficult to find debris to find remains, any clues that could tell investigators and the victims'

families how this plane went down. tonight, investigators are mapping the debris field in the french alps where the aircraft is described as obliterated. recovery teams are struggling to get to the wreckage spread far apart starting in an altitude of about 6,000 feet. their challenge, navigating vertical slopes and deep ravines is enormous. >> they may have little cliff edges that they may have to pick things off of. as they descend, they may have to stop similar to this gather things put them into a bag and keep rappelling down. >> reporter: this high altitude mountaineer has climbed stark peaks just like those in the alps. we rappeled with him to see what the recovery teams are up against. he says depending on where the helicopters can drop those teams, rescuers may have to climb up or rappel down to get on the debris and remains of passengers. they will battle dangerous crevices fatigue and weather

that can change in an instant. >> it can be sunny and a bluebird day and an hour later, clouds are coming over a ridge that you didn't see. next thing you know it's blowing 20 30 40 miles an hour and snow's coming down on you. rain's coming down on you. that will negate any kind of helicopter activity. >> reporter: those conditions stand between investigators and their ultimate goal to examine pieces of this plane and determine what happened to it. experts say if they can't get enough information from the cockpit voice or flight data recorders they may have to piece this aircraft back together like investigators did with twa flight 800. >> absent any additional information from the recorders, the focus is going to be on the front of the airplane. so any pieces from the cockpit area are going to be of particular concern right now. >> reporter: john golia, who investigated the twa 800 crash, say the teams may have to piece together some of the plane's wiring to find clues. long painstaking work he says

but worth it. >> we could really see where the airplane came apart, the way it came apart and the metal doesn't lie. when you run the pieces of metal, the edges of the metal through a microscope they will actually tell you where the forces came to tear the airplane apart. >> reporter: the debris field in the alps seems to be mostly small pieces instead of large chunks. experts say that suggests a high impact crash and it also means the recovery teams are going to have a tougher time trying to recover so many pieces from those crevices the ledges in the mountains. wolf? >> once again, a usable portion of the cockpit voice recorder we are told has been recovered but not the flight data recorder which is obviously so crucial. >> that's right. investigators have been able to actually listen to some audio from the cockpit voice recorder. as far as that flight data recorder's concerned, french president francois hollande said the outside frame of that recorder was found but not the recorder itself. even though those two pieces of equipment are stored near each

other just underneath the tail of the aircraft. >> brian, thanks very much. once again, we are joined by our aviation analyst peter goalz, former national transportation safety board managing director. the pictures of the debris tell us a lot. they are stunning aren't they? >> they are stunning and they are just terribly depressing when you see that. >> show us some of them. >> here's one that's been widely distributed. it's a shot of the fuselage. you can see along here where the composite material has been ripped from the mainframe. you see the windows, openings that are there. what it does it confirms that this plane hit at tremendous speed. >> you also have a picture of a wheel. it shows sort of the differences, the space between the various pieces of debris. tell us what that means. >> what i see here is the wheels and the wheel structures are the most robust part of the plane. here is the wheel there.

what it looks like as though the plane hit further up the mountainside because you have a debris field right down this crevice and the material must have fallen down the mountain into this. this is going to be very difficult to piece together. these pieces are so small that it's going to be impossible. >> there is also part of the wing or vertical stabilizer as it's called. we see it it's not charred. that has a significance. >> exactly. none of the pieces that we have seen so far have been charred which means the plane hit but there had been no fire there was no fire prior to impact. what's important here is this is the vertical stabilizer, the flight data recorder and voice recorder are located near it. this part of the plane is also robust and tends to survive accidents at a slightly better rate. >> they did recover at least one of those black boxes but look at how damaged it is. the black boxes as we all know

are not black, they are really orange. >> this is really extraordinary. i have seen many data recorders and voice recorders. this is hardened stainless steel. it is armored to withstand tremendous pressures and to be deformed like this just confirms what a tremendous amount of pressure. but the data material is there. >> is inside. >> that material apparently has survived. the french have said they've got the sounds they've got voices they've got alarms. >> this is what's left of the cockpit voice recorder. they are still looking for the flight data recorder. stand by for a moment. coming up an experienced pilot's new theory about what could have gone wrong and caused the airliner to start its rapid descent into a mountainside. we also have more on another important breaking story we are following. the united states army charging sergeant bowe bergdahl with desertion and misbehavior. he could go to prison for life. stay with us.

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our breaking news recovery teams are facing an impossibly tough condition right now at the site of the airliner crash in the french alps that killed 150 people including three americans. investigators have some new clues, though to work with. they have managed to retrieve an audio file from the cockpit voice recorder even hoe the other black box is still missing. our senior international correspondent nic robertson is joining us live near the crash scene.

this plane was obliterated. how challenging is this operation for the people there trying to recover what's left? >> reporter: it really can't be overstated too much of how difficult it is. it's a very narrow valley where the crash site is. the helicopters can't land. they literally have to lower people by rope. that means when they lower them in they are limited with the amount of equipment, can't land a group of people. they are not able to take a large amount of equipment off quickly. that slows things down. the hillside very steep and fragile, accident investigators say. the hillside itself is unstable. when you are looking for this data recorder that is broken free of its larger housing, it's so much harder to find. what we have learned today is that the focus on the ground has been more for the recovery teams to mark the locations of the bodies that they are finding which have to be recorded the locations have to be recorded. of course this is a criminal

investigation as well so all these details are very important. all that is making the process here very slow. finding that tiny data recorder in the rock and rubble of the hillside that's been freshly broken apart is very challenging. >> certainly is. i want to dig deeper now. joining us our aviation analyst, former ntsb managing director peter goalz, our law enforcement analyst tom fuentes, our safety analyst david soucie former faa safety inspector and accident investigator. robert mark is also joining us a commercial pilot, and via skype, aviation analyst miles o'brien o'brien. you have a theory about what might have happened. tell us about what you are hearing about an update recently received by pilots. >> i just received something this morning from a pilot of an a320 from a u.s. airline that

said there could be an erroneous indication from one piece of the electronic gear in the airplane to another set of computers on the a320 that could make the airplane believe it's about to stall. if it's about to stall, the airbus says i'm not going to let you do that i'm going to push the nose over of the airplane and try and get the nose lower and descend to keep the airplane from stalling. >> you think that potentially could have happened. let me get peter to react to that. what do you think of that theory? >> i think we have to consider anything. i think the most troubling part of this accident is in fact the eight to ten minutes of silence as the plane was in the dive. we heard nothing that indicates they responded to any of the air traffic control requests that would have taken three to five seconds to respond. but i think every aspect of the plane's performance will be examined and the interaction between the human and the

aircraft is going to be a big part of it. >> because miles, as you know there was a lot of distress calls from ground control up to the cockpit but no reply, right? >> yeah. when you think about ten minutes, wolf that is an awful lot of time. when you consider the narrative that sully sullenberger was able to issue in that two-minute flight from laguardia into the hudson river, explaining the situation, declaring the mayday making it very clear what was going on in the cockpit. if you had a crew troubleshooting a problem with the fly by wire system which made it the plane think it was stalling and not, it's hard to imagine a professional pilot crew not at some point pushing the button and saying hey, we got a problem here, air traffic control. something else is going on. >> it certainly is. david, as you know last november a lufthansa airbus a-321 dropped 4,000 feet in one minute after that auto pilot

lowered the jet's nose. how closely should investigators be looking at the so-called auto pilot system of these airbus planes? >> very closely and they are. it's something they have looked at since that time. the challenge is going to be even once they find a fix, is the faa ready to make what's necessary, to issue a directive and make this mandatory to be happening right now. that's the tough sell because of the fact that just because something safety happens like that and it's an unusual behavior to ask the airlines to spend millions of dollars to fix something like that is tough for the faa. >> captain, do you have an assessment? >> just responding to that i think there is certainly an ethical and moral issue we will deal with as well. when you are talking about whether the faa will or can or should do it we are completely eliminating the fact the people in the back that are paying for the tickets have absolutely no idea what's going on here.

>> one final question before we move on because we have a lot more to discuss. a preliminary check by u.s. law enforcement agencies of the manifest of this plane, they found no criminal links. investigators haven't ruled out anything potentially including criminal activity or terrorism. >> i'm not too sure about the reports that they haven't found any links. i don't think they would tell us if they did find links right now. it's a preliminary investigation. it's very early. they won't tell you one way or the other at this point. >> anything is out there, they have to look at everything obviously, all 150 people who were on board that plane see if there's anything suspicious at all. we don't know if there is. it could be a huge catastrophic failure, mechanical failure or some human involvement as well. we are continuing to watch what's going on. everyone stand by. coming up much more on what investigators could learn from that damaged cockpit voice recorder. officials announced today they have been able to recover what they call usable information. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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try and go for a flee deal with the army. today, by filing charges against this soldier, the army made it clear it is turning this over to the military justice system to decide how to hold him accountable. sergeant bowe bergdahl released by the taliban after being held captive for five years, could face imprisonment at home. the army now charging him with desertion and quote, misbehavior before the enemy. engaging in quote, shamefully abandoning his unit. two of the most serious counts in the military justice system. bergdahl will now face a so-called article 32 proceeding the military equivalent of a grand jury. the next step could be a full trial. >> and possible confinement for life. >> reporter: securing a desertion conviction could be tough. desertion requires evidence he never intended to return. >> desertion would imply that he would actually be working with the enemy and that he had a

preconceived plan to go and join enemy forces. so that's going to be a lot more difficult to prove. >> reporter: especially difficult given what national security advisor susan rice said after bergdahl was traded for five senior taliban prisoners who were held at guantanamo bay. >> he served the united states with honor and distinction and will have the opportunity eventually to learn what has transpired. >> i miss them and i'm afraid that i might never see them again. >> reporter: just hours after u.s. commandos got bergdahl back in exchange for the so-called taliban five president obama appeared in the rose garden with bergdahl's parents. the commander in chief welcoming a soldier home. >> he wasn't forgotten by his country, because the united states of america does not ever leave our men and women in uniform behind. >> reporter: but bergdahl's former team leader saw a very different soldier.

>> he did talk about how he did not agree with the war effort in afghanistan. >> reporter: some of his former teammates could be called to testify at a trial. some believe several soldiers lost their lives looking for bergdahl. >> i believe the fact of the matter is when those soldiers were killed they would not have been where they were at if bergdahl had not have left. >> reporter: now, there's an awful lot of wrinkles to this story, wolf. as a matter of standard procedure, bergdahl accumulated his back pay during the five years he was gone but now, if he is convicted, if he faces other disciplinary action he likely will have to forfeit it. >> barbara, thanks very much. i want to get more insight now from senator lindsay graham republican of south carolina. he is a key member of the armed services committee. he also served for many years in the united states air force as a lawyer. senator graham we have a lot to discuss about this and more. i want to take a quick break, get to you right after this. stand by.

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more on the investigation and what caused the airliner crash that killed 150 people. we're following other breaking news. the united states army charging sergeant bowe bergdahl with desertion. he could face life if prison even though he was held in afghanistan for five years. back with senator lindsey graham a u.s. air force lawyer as well as served in the air force for 30 years in the

reserves. was the right call made today? >> they have to have probable cause to believe that he's guilty of desertion and misbehavior in the face of the enemy. they are very serious charges. an officer will look at the charges, determine if there's probable cause to prosecute further. and the commanding general will make a decision as to whether or not to go to trial. they have to have something pretty serious to go down this road. >> how difficult will it be to convict him? >> well desertion -- there's two elements to desertion, leaving your post with no intent to return leaving your post abandoning your duties. if he left his post and he was supposed to be on guard duty the next day with no intent to return co-he could be charged under that. desertion requires leaving your post with an intent not to return. they have to prove -- the

government has to prove he left his post with no intent to return or that he shirked his duties. >> he is charged with what they call misbehavior before the enemy. what does that mean? >> well there's nine different things under article 99 that would allow you to be charged with misbehavior before the enemy. cowardly conduct, not assisting your own troops not engaging the enemy when you should or abandoning your post. misbehavior before the enemy and desertion kind of go together - here. if you left your post and you had a -- say a guard duty coming up the next day, you abandon your post then you deserted your union as well as misbehaved before the enemy putting your own people at risk. >> some of the platoon members say he is to blame for six deaths of fellow troops who were out there looking for him. what do you say to that? >> this man deserves a fair trial. he will be given a vigorous

defense. i don't want to try him on television. the charges are serious. we will see where this goes. let's not try to young man by antidote. let's make sure the government has to prove their case as required in law and he is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty. i don't want to speculate. i have been doing this for 33 years. i'm very proud of the military justice system. give the guy a fair trial. >> you opposed the swap of the five detainees for bergdahl from day one. we're showing a picture of the five detainees. they're in qatar, one of whom has tried to establish contact with the taliban. you hated this deal to begin with right? >> i have nothing but disgust for this deal. if bergdahl had been a medal of honor winner it would not have matters. i'm not worried about the service of sergeant bergdahl. letting these five terrorist leaders go undermined the war effort put our nation at risk.

the war is not over. they are still fighting in afghanistan. i thought it was disproportionate. there's a military code of conduct to bring everybody home if you can. but no military member should expect us to release five terrorist leaders to get them back regardless of the quality of bergdahl's service, this undermined the war effort. these people are going to go back to the fight. what do you tell a family member that may be killed by one of these guys down the road? >> very quickly. what are you hearing about the saudi troops that we're hearing are massing along the northern border with yemen? >> this is going to be the first of many events where the sunni arabs push back against iranian influence around their borders. i think saudi arabia will go in and take on the houthis because you are giving iran yemen. iran has influence in iraq. without our leadership the sunni arabs will take matters

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happening now, first clues vest getters. investigators get usable data. cnn is live.

america's loss. a virginia woman and her mother were on the jet when it plunged from the sky. we're at their home getting new information. court-martial. the u.s. soldier freed in a prisoner swap with the taliban is charged with desertion, may face a military trial. will bowe bergdahl be a prisoner again? faceoff. who is paying a price for the worst u.s. israeli relationship in memory? tonight, there's growing pressure for one man to call it quits. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you are in "the situation room." we're following two breaking stories. a former american prisoner of war now facing the possibility of life in a u.s. military prison. a full report. that's coming up on the charges against bowe bergdahl nearly a year after he was swapped for five taliban detainees. breaking tonight, airline

officials insist the plane that slammed into the french alps was in perfect technical condition before the crash. cnn learned that fbi agents reviewing the passenger list so far haven't found any criminal links. investigators studying data from one of the black boxes and other early clues trying to solve the miss trif mystery of why the jet nosedived. our correspondents and analysts are standing by. first, let's go to our aviation correspondent rene marsh. >> reporter: a break through for investigators who have retrieved flight 9525's cockpit voice recorder. it could be only a matter of hours before they get their first listen at the pilots' final words. this is the strongest clue investigators have in their hands. the exterior of the flight 9525's cockpit voice reporter looked damaged. french authorities revealed today, they have had some

success. >> one of the audio streams is readable. >> reporter: the cockpit voice recorder captured audio up to the moment of impact. it will provide critical information like whether the pilots were talking in the minutes leading up to the crash. >> they can hear what switches are being thrown and what buttons are being pushed. >> reporter: investigators say the plane disappeared from radar 53 minutes after takeoff and the final minutes of dissent appeared controlled. >> translator: the curve is compatible with an aircraft controlled by pilots except for the fact that we can't imagine pilots consciously sending and aircraft into a mountain. but it may also be compatible with an aircraft which is controlled by an automatic pilot. >> reporter: the ceo of lufthansa says he is struggling to understand why this plane crashed. >> we cannot understand how an airplane which was in perfect

technical condition with two experienced and trained pilots was involved in such a terrible accident. >> reporter: finding the second black box will be critical to unlock the mystery of what brought down the jet. on the flight data recorder investigators will get a second by second break dlthdown of how the systems were functioning. was everything working or was there mechanical failure? the status for this piece of the plane is unclear. france's president said this. >> translator: a second black box is being looked for. its outside frame has been found. unfortunately, not the black box itself. >> reporter: a claim french investigators seem to dispute. >> translator: those rumors are not at all confirmed. we have not localized the black box. >> reporter: even if the plane's flight data recorder is not in one piece, data may still be

retrieved. it's located in the tail of the plane. the boxes, in stainless steel and the memory cards containing the valuable information is wrapped in ensueinsulation. the fbi says a preliminary review of naemmes on the manifest find no criminal links. the fbi is not officially investigating at this point. because three americans were on board, authorities in the united states have a vested interest in this case. however, it's still early and investigators have everything on the table, including terrorism. >> they certainly do. thank you. some investigators had to be dropped by a helicopter. the area is barely accessible. let's go there. nick robertson is as close as possible to the site. what's the latest over there? >> reporter: wolf, the air operation, recovery is finished

for the night. it's expected to begin in the early hours of the morning. what we will see are the helicopters flying in. they will pick up the police recovery teams. they will be wearing harnesses, ropes. they will be lowered into the crash site and begin the effort not just looking for data recorder other interesting parts of the debris but, of course the effort now to try and get out some of the human remains, the victims of this crash, begin to bring them out. preparations are being made. we saw refrigeration trucks being moved into the village. there's a place in the village being set aside for the teams to continue their work once the bodies are brought off the hillside. that's what we're expecting. for tonight, it's quiet. >> stand by nick. we will get back to you. we know that three americans were on board flight 9525. the 150 victims of the crash came from at least 18 countries.

let's go to our national correspondent suzanne malveaux. she's near the home of a mother and daughter on the plane. a sad scene over there, i'm sure. >> reporter: it's so so sad, wolf. think about it. you have this internatio close to home here in virginia. the family is grieving inside that home. we did reach out to a relative and got a statement. i'm going to read it to you. saying our entire family is deeply saddened by the losses two wonderful, caring amazing people who meant so much to so many people. we're learning more about the three americans, two from virginia, who lost their lives here. emily and her mother who was a 22-year veteran of the government contracting company. emily was a proud alumni of drexel. on its facebook page the chapter

posted as a person and friend emily always put others before herself and cared deeply for all those in her life. >> we can confirm that a third u.s. citizen was on board the flight but are not releasing the name out of respect for the family. >> reporter: among the others silenced 34-year-old opera singer maria radner who was traveling with her husband and baby. radner had just completed performances in barcelona with her colleague owelegbry bryjak. in germany, they are mourning the loss of 16 young students and two instructors. one teacher was recently married, the other engaged. >> they had plans for their life. that was changed from one minute

to the next. like a burst bubble. >> reporter: the school group just finished an exchange. outside, two students mourned over their final photo with their friends. on friday we were with them all day on a field trip to the beach. they were really happy because they had never seen the ocean. it's hard to believe. for many of the victims death came in the prime of their lives. 28-year-old paul andrew braley was from england. greg friday was traveling with his mother who celebrated a birthday the day before the flight. both of them traveling together, they loved music vest fals. they loved being tathogether. the man -- you can't imagine the

sense of loss that he is experiencing having lost his wife as well as his daughter. he spoke with cnn. he is too emotional, too distraught as you can imagine to speak publically. but he is grieving privately. he wants to thank people for their support. he also wants to ask for his privacy during this very very difficult time. >> pass along our deepest condolences. we will respect the family's privacy. thank you. let's get analysis now on what's going on. joining us richard quest, peter goelz, tom fuentes and david soucie. peter, if they have the cockpit voice recorder and it's usable but they don't have this the flight data recorder how difficult will it be to figure out what happened? >> they will get a picture but it won't be a complete one. it will be challenging to put together the entire accident

sequence because the data recorder is really the key document produces the key information. it monitors thousand it was parameters. they've got to find it. >> richard, is it possible that the inside of that flight data recorder -- we heard the president say the shell, whatever that means, was found but the recorder itself the material inside has not been found. is it possible it could be completely destroyed? >> it's possible. but it's perhaps unlikely. the bea person we heard from earlier was very confident that not only would it be found but that the nature of its construction -- it's built to withstand exactly the sort of pressure and forces that this went through. a plane crashing 500 miles an hour into a mountain. this is exactly what it is designed to do in terms of its structure. he was confident it would be found and that it would be usable. >> let's hope it is. i want everybody to stand by. i want to bring in jeffrey

thomas the editor and chief of airlinesratings.com. if you were listening to the cockpit voice recorder what's the first thing you would want to listen for? >> wolf the sort of things that i would be listening for are the alarms what alarms are going off. there's four or five. they make a variety of different sounds. of course obviously, the conversation of the pilots which would probably not be a conversation. it would be frantic. what is going on? what's happening? that's the sort of thing that would give us some telltale clues as to what was, indeed overcoming these pilots and this aircraft. >> what if there's no conversation heard? the last eight or ten minutes of that flight before it crashed into the french alps? what does that mean? >> well that would be an extraordinary mystery.

it would possibly point to a total electrical failure of some kind that took out all of the cockpit voice recorder for instance. but i think they're going to find alarms. i think they absolutely are going to find a frantic conversation going on. pilots perplexed as to what's going on. >> here is one concern that i have. they will hear in the last eight to ten minutes, they will hear other noises from inside that cockpit, maybe alarms. they won't hear any conversation. what would that say to you, david? >> what it would say -- what i would be listening for is to see when air traffic control tried to reach them. if there's no conversation yet you can hear them try to reach the pilots there's no response that would say they're either unable to respond for example, they were as fixated, or they were being held at gun point or something like that. typically on -- that's not the

case. there's three or four ways they would have communicated that through systems that exist. >> if ground control is repeatedly calling in to the cockpit what's going on distress what's going on we're not hearing from you, if the pilot and co-pilot are alive or whatever they would, of course have to respond right away. they wouldn't be delaying a response. >> no. you can make the response in a number of two or three seconds without any difficulty. as was mentioned earlier, a captain did over the hudson. he responded back to air traffic control repeatedly in the highest stress situation you could face. so i think it's a mystery and it's very concerning. >> richard quest, the mystery certainly is why wouldn't they respond? what possible reasons could there be for them not responding to ground control? >> well i mean the obvious might be they were non-responsive in they were incapacitated. peter makes an excellent point

when he says there really isn't -- assuming they're not incapacitated, assuming they're not unconscious or worse, if they are dealing with a crisis and somebody from the ground is calling up saying hey, you are in danger you have just left your altitude you risk going towards other aircraft, there's no excuse for not returning the call. >> tom fuentes, that's why one of the reasons why there's at least the possibility why the fbi, interpole, other law enforcement officials, they're investigating to see if there's any foul play. >> absolutely wolf. i think that the way the authorities have described this recorder they say they hear voices. they don't say when or what they're saying. they don't say they're dealing with a crisis on the plane. they don't say they're being held hostage. you don't know exactly what's being said. the second thing is the data recorder which we really need also is to say, were they trying to deal with a crisis or were they told hands off, let the plane go down? >> stand by. we have more information coming

in. new details. we will take a quick break. more on the breaking news the investigation into this crash. 150 people on board, all dead.

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we're back with our aviation experts and the breaking news on the deadly plane crash in the french alps.

they believe the plane flew to the end and the debris field suggests there wasn't an explosion in mid flight. we're back with our analysts. there was are three fbi agents on the ground investigating with interpole and their french spanish, german counterparts. >> the fbi agents would be gathering data about the passengers the manifest any other information, evidence at the site that the plane exploded. the fact the debris field is littered with tiny pieces indicates it was probably not blown out of the sky which causes big pieces to come down. just to provide assistance and particularly with the passengers and the crew to track them down all over the world where the countries they are coming from. >> david, could france's bea there, their bureau that's responsible for investigating these kinds of crashes, do you think they will ask the ntsb here in the united states to assist them in this

investigation? >> i don't think so wolf. if you look at that briefing that they did, it's a very thorough briefing one of the best i have seen. very thorough very complete and not belabored. i think they're doing a great job with it. the ntsb has offered to assist. if they do get short of manpower they will ask for that. we will see how that goes for the future. >> i ask the question because the two black boxes are manufactured in the united states. it's possible u.s. experts are more -- better equipped to deal with what's in the black boxes than maybe the french are. >> no i don't think so. i think they have equal capabilities because the manufacturer assures that they do before they are even able to open that box. they have to be certified to be able to open those box and have equal capabilities. >> good point. richard, in november, an airbus a slightly larger version, dropped 4,000 feet in one minute during a flight after the autopilot unexpectedly lowered the jet's nose.

this caused the safety agency to issue a safety director warning about the possibility of an error with sensors on the plane. could something like that have happened in this particular case? >> unlikely wolf. the incident you are talking about, known as the angle of attack it's unlikely. it would have frozen over if bad weather or freedzzing conditions. most people i speak to are discounting this idea of the protection and uncommanded dissent. airbus put out a fix. they're aware of it. they're aware of the fix. i think we can -- i wouldn't say completely put it to rest but we can certainly put it on the back burner as possible causes. >> peter, you have suggested that the debris field in this particular case reminds you of what that value jet crash of

1996 the plane took off from miami and crashed in the everglades in florida. why does it remind you of that? >> when we get there, the only piece that was remotely resembling an aircraft was a piece of the engine. this plane in 1996 completely disintegrated. the destruction was horrible. this accident there's nothing remaining. some wheels. we saw the vertical stabilizer a portion of it. it was a terribly destructive accident. >> what's intriguing, tom fuentes, the french interior minister said she can't rule out the possibility of terrorism or foul play criminal action. give us a sense of what the investigators are looking at. >> looking at the debris when they are on the ground they can see if they're been exploded outward. usually, the plane will separate coming down to the ground.

they can do tests on the pieces of metal for explosive residue. they can tell if there's a bomb. it doesn't look like that at this point. the next question is did somebody on that plane, either one of the pilots the crew or a passenger, get into that cockpit and take control of that plane and cause the crash? >> the cockpits are locked. those doors are locked. supposed lid eddly they're locked. those doors are always locked. >> not always. they unlock when the pilot or co-pilot comes out to use the bathroom or get coffee. >> they put a card in front so nobody can get through. >> you don't have to be an olympic hurdler to get in. if one of the crew go in the bathroom for example, they know that person will come out. when they see the light on the bathroom above go out, it indicates the door has been unlocked. you can time that very easily i think, to -- when the cockpit door comes open to rush through.

>> let me get david to react. what do you think? >> there's a lot of precautions in that. it's possible that that could happen. he raises very good points that we examined all the point when we went forward with trying to put those doors and lock those doors when the faa investigated how to respond to the risk to the hazard. he brings good points. each of those things are addressed within the airlines. >> richard quest, i assume they're looking at the background of all 150 people on that plane, right? >> the u.s. said from their knowledge, there's no criminal background worthy of note for many -- for anybody on that plane, absolutely. i mean the people who were on the plane were -- are victims of this accident. until as we saw with 370, until they know the cause, they can't rule anything in or anything out. yes, there will be an investigation of the backgrounds of the passengers by the

national police authorities of their individual countries. i have to say, wolf although i've also been a proponent of keeping terrorism option it does seem unlikely baring in mind the circumstances of this case. >> peter, you have done investigations when you are at the ntsb in which you looked at the pilot or the co-pilot. what are you looking at when you take a close look at those two men or women in the cockpit? >> you review their behavior over the past 72 hours, over the past week. you look at their bank accounts. you interview their family and friends to see if they were under any particular stress whether there was anything new that happened in their lives that might have lent them into a depression. there's lots of things you would look for just to see if there was anything out of the ordinary. 99.9% of the time you find nothing. but you have to look. >> one famous case where you did

find. >> we did. it was the egypt air case in 1999 which the co-pilot flew the plane into the north atlantic -- >> in new york. >> yes. he had been charged with some poor behavior the night before in new york. he was going to be fired on his return to egypt. he took the plane down with all of the passengers. >> david soucie if they have the cockpit audio, how long is it going to take -- i don't think they will release the audio part. but they usually release a transcript. how long will it take to get that? >> it could take quite some time wolf. especially if they don't have the flight data recorder which is the case right now. because at this point, you have to do analysis. it's not like it's real clear. there's area microphones that pick up a lot of information. you have to detail that and segregate it. it's quite a painstaking process. it could be weeks and could be even a month if there's any kind of criminal activity or anything like that that would indicate a

further investigation. >> richard quest, we know that a few dozen maybe more pilots from lufthansa, they didn't want to fly today. flight attendants they didn't want to fly today. give us the background. what happened? >> according to ger manmanwings said they're too distressed. they have a family tradition and idea and feeling to it. he said it was understandable that some people would feel this. frankly, wolf it's completely -- look some have tried to make hay out of this suggesting it's a safety issue and they have been worried about safety. i have seen -- i have heard nothing to suggest that to be accurate. there's no reason why we shouldn't take germanwings statement that they were distressed they were upset, they were emotional and they wanted -- did not want to fly.

frankly, i would rather they didn't fly either if i was a passenger on one of those planes. >> after a day like that. everybody stand by. there's other information that we are just getting. we will take a quick break. much more right after this. if a denture were to be put under a microscope we can see all the bacteria that still exists. polident's unique micro clean formula works in just 3 minutes, killing 99.99% of odor causing bacteria. for a cleaner, fresher brighter denture every day. the traffic jam. scourge of 20th century city life. raiser of blood pressure. disrupter of supply chains. stealer of bedtime stories. polluter. frustrater. time thief. [cars honking]

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we have breaking news coming into "the situation room." sergeant bowe bergdahl is now for the first time telling his own story in his own words. we're getting this new information hours after the u.s. military charged bergdahl with desertion.

let's go to barbara starr. she has the breaking news. what is he saying? >> reporter: this is a lengthy document made public by his civilian lawyer. several pages where the lawyer lays out the case that he will attempt to make if and when this goes to trial. at the end of this lengthy document several pages from bowe bergdahl himself in his own words, what he went through. let me just start with one quote from sergeant bergdahl. he says i was kept in constant isolation for the entire five years, with little to no understanding of time told i was going to be executed told i would have my ears and nose cut off. some of the other details that sergeant bergdahl offers for the- first time he says he was chained to a bed, spread eagle and blindfolded. that he had eight to 12 open wounds on each wrist under his hand shackles. he described graphically how he

would attempt to drain those wounds himself. beaten with a copper cable. over the years he tried to escape several times. he said once he was able to be gone for nine days. he was held in various conditions at various points. he became quite ill he says at one point. he got better. but all of of this going to the case that apparently the defense will try and make that this soldier suffered greatly for the five years he was in taliban captivity. >> in the statement -- i haven't read the statement. does he explain why he walked away from his base? >> well in the portion which the attorney has written, bergdahl does not -- in the portion which the attorney has written, the attorney suggests that we will learn more about all of this should it go to an open trial proceeding. he does say that you know everyone is well aware of the rumor that bergdahl wanted to do

something like walk to china. and he says that none of that is true. he didn't want to walk to china. he didn't want to join the taliban. he didn't cooperate with the taliban. so beginning to lay out the framework of the case that we are likely to see, wolf. >> stand by barbara. i want to bring in ed who has been covering the story from the very beginning. what do you make of the statement? you have been talking to a lot of people close to bergdahl. >> i think you hit on it at the beginning. this is the first time in nearly six years that we are hearing anything coming directly from bowe bergdahl. this is two pages or so of typed up -- presumably this is part of the evidence and the statement that bowe bergdahl gave to army investigators. bowe bergdahl's attorney saying he has been cooperateing with the fbi agents involved in the hunt for the people who held bowe

bergdahl captive for nearly five years. the letter as barbara mentioned, might not talk about why he left the post. these are the first details, excruciating of what bowe bergdahl experienced being caged and tied -- chained in a cage at night. barbara mentioned close to the end of the first year he writes about being able to escape for nine days. his body eventually game out with having no access to food or water. he was eventually -- a gang of taliban fighters were able to track him down. in this letter, wolf, bowe bergdahl says he made in five years at least 12 attempts to escape from his captors. >> general, what do you make of what's going on? you are a retired lieutenant general. >> well wolf what i will suggest to you is i'm a firm believer in the military justice system. this is all now attempting on one side to be played out in public where you heard the

statements from the army this afternoon saying we're keeping the 15-6 investigation, the finding of facts that drove the article 32 that is about to determine evidence, we're keeping that very secret from the army perspective so we don't taint the trial. the release of a statement by mr. bergdahl's lawyer and by him before the 32 begins is somewhat -- well it's not the right way to approach this. all of those evidentiary proceedings will take place during the article 32 investigation, the grand jury. to low it out in the public view is just not the right way to do it. that's the way a lot of people do it in the civilian sector. it's not the way we do it in the military. but i have been a court-martial authority in the past. i know that there's always an attempt by a civilian lawyer or by a soldier to throw things out before the evidentiary

proceedings. that's what this is going to be all about for the next several months. >> general, everybody, stand by. there's other news, important news just coming in. go to jennifer gray. i understand there's a tornado on the ground in tulsa, oklahoma right now? what's going on? >> we have a possible confirmed tornado on the ground west of tulsa. there's a tornado warning in effect until 6:00 central time. this does include creek counties as well as tulsa counties. it does include the city of tulsa. get into your safe spot right now away from windows, the center portion of your home. this is traveling right along highway 412. another one just popped up as we speak. this has been reinstated for tulsa, the cities of sand springs, tulsa, this travels to the east at a very fast rate of speed. get into that safe spot like we said. this does include the metro area

as well as all of the small towns on the outskirts of metro especially west. very heavy rain dangerous crowd to ground lightning. it makes for a very dangerous situation. you may not see it coming. we have video from one of our affiliates right there on the side of your screen. you can see the very dark clouds the rain coming down and a possible tornado within that. stay tuned. we will of course bring you the latest. you see the rain around that. you may not be able to see the tornado coming. that's why it's very dangerous. the warnings are issued for a warn. it's because we have a possible tornado on the ground just to the west of tulsa. >> koco our affiliate over there. it's not just in a rural area. it sounds like it's going through a heavily populated area. >> hasn't gotten to tulsa yet. it will get there in the next 15 to 20 minutes. it's a cell we're looking at right here. you can see where my hands are, that's the cell we're looking at. it's traveling to the east and

will be in metro areas within the next possibly 15 to 20 minutes. the tornado warning goes into affect until 6:15 central time. from now into the next 30 to 45 minutes, that's when the real danger will be for metro area of tulsa. >> if people are driving or listening or whatever, what should they be doing? the pictures are ominous as we see the skies. >> it's really scary. get into a sturdy building away from windows in an interior room. that's where they will be the safest. they need to be on lowest level. you don't need to be on a second or third story. be on the lowest level inside of of a sturdy building away from windows. >> ominous situation over there in tulsa. we will stay on top of this with you as well. a lot of breaking news happening right now. more right after this.

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we're following breaking news right now. the former u.s. prisoner of war, bowe bergdahl telling a story in his own words for the first time. we're joined by barbara starr, our cnn correspondent ed in dallas who has covered this from the beginning and lieutenant general mark hertling. he is not denying that he

abandoned his position right? >> well he doesn't actually say very much about why and what happened in terms of the reasons he left his post that night in eastern afghanistan back in july 2009. what his lawyer is basically saying is we will learn more about all of that. his lawyer right in the front part of the document the initial letter to the army saying that they need to see more specific documentation about the evidence that they haven't been given, the information that they would like to have as this now moves forward. we will see if they get it. the lawyer also making the point -- i think it's really interesting this early on that there has been so much publicity about this case. it may not be possible in his view for bowe bergdahl to get a fair hearing in front of the u.s. military. in fact he tells us -- i don't know that we heard this before. bergdahl is serving in san

antonio, texas, on an army base. he is accompanied by two enlisted soldiers not because he's a flight risk but because there is concern by his commander that third parties, people out in public if they see him, they might attack him. so he is constantly accompanied for his own security. that's the level of emotion that is with this case. >> yeah. the emotion coming in part because so many of his fellow soldiers on his platoon, they hold him responsible. 'ban he abandoned his position. platoon members went searching for him and several wound up dieing in the search, getting themselves killed. that's why a lot of these guys really hate him. right? >> there's no question. the backlash against bowe bergdahl was immediate. as soon as it was announced that his -- that he had been released and brought back to the united states remember a lot of platoon mates that served with

him said that they were barred from speaking publically about what was going -- what had happened with bowe bergdahl in the years leading up to his release. as soon as that release was announced and bowe bergdahl was coming back to the united states that's why you saw this flood of interviews from people who had served with bowe bergdahl detailing their frustration and their anger at their fellow soldier. >> when the president was willing to release the five taliban detainees, he had a moment there in the rose garden with the parents of bowe bergdahl -- we are showing the pictures right now. when bowe bergdahl came back, for a long time he didn't want to speak with his parents. right? >> for the first several months it was our understanding that bowe bergdahl essentially -- we are told that he had been given every opportunity to reach out and speak directly with his parents. he refused those opportunities. we have since been told about six months ago -- i was told by

two sources that bowe bergdahl was communicating with his parents. but those sources couldn't detail or wouldn't detail exactly how those communications were taking place. we say all this because after bowe bergdahl had been in for many years, many people knew there were some serious questions about how he was captured there are many people who supported him and many people who expected some sort of triumphant homecoming or jovial reunion between him and his family who had had been grieving so long and waiting for him to be released. none of those moments and images have happened which adds to the mystery of the situation. >> stand by. we're following this breaking news. we'll take a quick break and be right back.

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a tornado warning near tulsa, oklahoma. let's go back to our meteorologist. what do we know now jennifer? >> those pictures you were just showing, very ominous skies. that's because this tornado warning just to the west of tulsa entering the metro area as we speak. counties that are influenced by this creek, osage as well as tulsa counties. if you're at broken arrow, stand springs, tulsa, get into your safe spot a small interior room away from windows on the lowest level of your home. that's where you're going to be the safest.

it's approaching the metro tulsa area right now. now is where you need to be inside your safe spot. this will last for the next 10 or 15 minutes as it travels through metro areas of tulsa and will continue to march on through the east. we have an entire line of showers and thunderstorms stretching all the way as far southwest as oklahoma city. about 150 miles away we're showing you pictures a few moments ago. skies were ominous as well in oklahoma city where we have severe thunderstorm warnings all around the area but this one in particular dangerous situation. we had a confirmed tornado on the ground to the west of tulsa. we had reports it was rain wrapped and that makes it particularly dangerous because people cannot see it coming. take our word for it. we have a tornado warning with a possible tornado to the west of the tulsa approaching the metro area right now, wolf. >> that picture, i want to show

our viewers a picture of what's going on. that looks very very ominous over there. describe what may be going on jennifer. >> even if you're not in the area where the tornado is you're still going to experience large hail dime size hail. you'll have deadly cloud to ground lightning. you're have very heavy rain hail and lightning and on top of that the possibility of a tornado just entering your city. it is very important that you get into that safe spot as quick as you can. you can ride out the storm and be as safe as can be. >> let's check back with you. the other breaking story, the former u.s. prisoner of war beau bergdahl telling the story in his own words for the first time. it sounds like in the statement

he was detailing the torture he was going through during his five years in captivity. i assume his lawyer and he are saying he's suffered enough. don't make him go through more. is that his strategy now? >> i can't talk to that but it's a little unusual. the army said we're not releasing to the public the results of 15-6 investigation which led to the article 32. that will be given to sergeant bergdahl's lawyer. he has that already. they will determine how to proceed based on the evidence. the next step do we go to a full general court-martial. do they go to a lesser form of a special court-martial or drop

all the charges. it will come as a result of both sides presenting evidence during this article 32 hearing. >> barbara starr, now that he's been charged with desertion, is he still free or put in some sort of brig? >> no indication he's in any, what they would call pre-trial confinement. that may come down the road. the u.s. military justice system is aimed at keeping good order and discipline on the battlefield. it's very tough. it's very precise but it's had good order and discipline that keeps soldiers and the military personnel alive to come home. that's the u.s. military view. >> all right. very quickly, you say he's been in communication now with his parents. have they actually met? >> as far as we know they haven't. we got an e-mail saying bergdahl

is not in pre-trial confinement and will continue working at his add minministrateive job at the base in san antonio. >> we have to leave it there. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." tonight, breaking news. cnn french affiliate reporting that helicopters are beginning to air lift the remains of victims victims. why was there no distress call for ten minutes. new details about the men flying the plane at the controls and more breaking news beau bergdahl the army charges him with desertion. he speaks out for the first time