exploded nearby and wounding and stunning him. retaliating immediately he killed the enemy. he crawled forward to pull several comrades back within the hastily performed perimeter and realizing his element need to do break away from the hostile force and he began maneuvering for it alone. though repeatedly thrown to the ground by charges, he continued advancing and firing and silencing several, including one enemy machine gun position from his dangerous forward position, he persistently laid fire on the hostile forces and after the enemy troops had broken contact, his comrades discovered that he had succumbed to his wounds. specialist alvarado areflect great credit upon himself and his unit and the united states army.

>> richard conday. accepting on behalf of his father sergeant first class felix m. conday falcone. he distinguished himself by act of gallantry and intrepidity. during combat operation against armed enemy republic of vietnam

on april 4th, 1969. while entering a heavily wooded section on the route of advance, first class conday falcone and his company encountered a bunker complex later identified as a battalion command post. following air strike on the helpful secured enemy position, his platoon was selected to assault and clear the bunker fortificatio fortifications. sergeant first class falcone throwing grenades as went. the hostile fire increased he crawled to the blind side of the entrenchment position and jumped to the roof and tossed a grenade into the bunker. without hesitating he proceeded two additional bunkers both of which he destroyed in the same manner as the first. rejoining his platoon, sergeant first class conde-falcon 100 meters through the tree and undercoming hostile fire and

selecting three men to accompany him he moved toward the enemy's position and carrying a machine gun he killed the enemy inside before running out of ammunition. after returning to the three men with his empty weapon and taking up an m-16 rifle, he concentrated on the next bunker. within ten meters of his goal, sergeant first class conde-f conde-falcon soon died of his wounds. at the cost of his own life above and beyond the call of duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect upon himself and his unit and the united states army.

>> jean copeis accepting on behalf of her father r.d.r. copeis. specialist ardie r. copas was a machine gunner in 1st battalion 25th infantry division during combat operations against an armed enemy near cambodia on, 1970. that morning his company was suddenly attacked by a large

hostile force firing recoilless rifles and rocket propelled grenades and automatic weapons. as specialist began returning fire his armored car was struck by an enemy round and knocking him to the ground and injuring four american soldiers besides the vehicle. ignoring his own wueds, he remounted the burning vehicle and commenced firing his machine gun at the enemy. braving the hostile fire directed at him and the possible detonation of the mortar rounds inside the track, specialist copas maintained a heavy fire on the faux while the wounded americans were safely evacuated. undowntown special copas placed fire until he was mortally wounded when another round hit his vehicle. specialist copas daring action resulted in the save evacuation of his comrades. his extraordinary heroism and

selflessness at the cost of his own life above the beyond and call of duty reflect great credit upon himself and his unit and the united states army.

>> tina durant accepting on behalf of her father specialist hay sues durant. he distinguished himself by gallantry and intrepid above and gon beyond the call of duty. 5th cavalry, first cavalry air mobile during combat operations against armed enemy in the republic of vietnam on april 10, 1969. that afternoon, the reconnaissance platoon was moved into an elaborate enemy bunker complex when the lead elements took ambush fire from every

side. they were in danger of being overrun. a machine gun blazing from his hip he rushed forward and asdum assumed a defensive position near the command post. hostile forces stormed forward he stood tall in a cloud of dust raised by the impacting rounds and directed toward him and thwarted the enemy with machine gun fire. learning that two seriously wounded troopers lay helplessly pinned down under harassing fire, the specialist assaulted the enemy positions and firing deadly bursts on the round. mount ago log he fired into the enemy fox holes and eliminating four and cutting down several others as they fled. specialist duran poured ges defective fire on the enemy. his cervicallessness above and beyond the call of duty are keeping within the highest

traditions of military service and reflect upon him and his unit and the united states army. anterior command sergeant major michael grinston. accepting on behalf of glaceo. sergeant garcia distinguished himself by acts of gal lanted tri -- gallantry and intrepidity. first infantry division during combat operations against an

armed enemy in republic of vietnam on december 8, 1968. on that day, sergeant garcia and his platoon discovered communication wire and other sides of enemy based camp lead nothing a densely vegetated area. as the men advanced they came under intense fire. several were hit and trapped in the open. ignoring a hail of hostile bullets, sergeant garcia crawled within ten meterses of a bunker and sprung to his feet and firing his rifle as he charged. sergeant garcia jammed two hand gra yaeds into the jam port and placed the muzzle of his weapon inside and killing all four oumts. he raced to another bunker and killed its three defenders with hand grenades and rifle fire. after again braving the enemy's barrage in order to rescue two casualties, he joined his company in an assault which

overran the remaining enemy positions. sergeant garcia's extraordinary heroism and selflessness above and beyond the call of duty are keeping within the highest traditions of military service and reflect upon him and his unit and the united states army. charles baldonado. accepting on his behalf is his brother. he distinguished himself by acts

of gallantry and intrepidity. company b, 187th airborne infantry regimen against armed enemy in korea in 1950. on that morning the enly launched a strong attack in an effort to seize the hill that he sund -- the platoon leader decided to commit its third squad with a supply of ammunition in the defense of action. since no time to dig in because of the proximity of the enemy who advanced 25 yards within the platoon position the corporal delivered a witherering stream of fire on the advancing enemy and causing them to fall back in disorder. the enemy then concentrated all their fire on corporal's gun in an attempt to knock it out by rushing their position in small groups and hurling hand grenades. several times grenades exploded

close to him but he failed to interrupt his continuous firing. the hostile troops made repeated attempts to storl his position and driven back each time with casualties. the enemy final withdraw after making a final assault on the corporal's position in which a grenade landed near his gun and killing him instantly. corporal joe bald donado. extraordinary heroism and selflessness above and beyond the call of duty are keeping within the highest traditions of military service and reflect upon himself and his unit and the united states army.

>> tyrone espinoza. accepting on behalf of him is his father corporal espinoza. he distinguished himself by acts of gallantry and intrepipity. against an arm ed enemy in kore. on that day he and his unit were responsible for holding an ill it was subjected to a enemy of fire slowing its progress. he unhess tastingly and fully aware of the harder made a deliberate one-main man assault on the enemy and destroying a machine gun and killing the

crew. corporal espinoza went to a vantage point where he attacked and two bunkers with grenades and rifle fire knocking out the enemy mortal position and destroying both bunkers and killing their occupants. upon reaching the crest and after running out of rifle ammuniti ammunition, he called for more grenad grenades. a comrade behind him through chinese grenades to him. he hurled them into the trenches and killing and wound more of the enemy with their own weapons. continuing on through a tunnel corporal espinoza had more casualties upon the enemy who were fast retreating into the tunnel. he was quickly in pursuit the hostile fire from the open prevented him from overtaking the enemy. he destroyed the tunnel and called for more help and

corporal's gdisplay of valor tok a toll on the enemy resulting in 14 dead and 11 wounded. corral victor h. espinoza's extraordinary heroism and selflessness above and beyond the call of duty are keeping within the highest traditions of military service and reflect upon himself and his unit and the united states army. >> pete coral. accepting on behalf of his uncle

sergeant eduardo c. gomez. he distinguished himself by acts of gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty while serving with company i 1st cavalry division during comrade on september 3, 1950. that afternoon while conducting combat patrol, sergeant gomez's company was ruthlessly attacked by a hostile force and moved within 75 yards of the command post before it was immobilized by rocket fire. however, an enemy tank and machine guns raked the company perimeter with devastating fire. realizing the tank posed a serious threat to the entire perimeter, sergeant gomez voluntarily crawled 30 yards across an open rice filed and vuble nes pried open one of the hatches and dropped a grenade into the hall killing the crew.

wounded in the left side while returning to his position, sergeant gomez refused evacuation. observation at the tripod of a 30 caliber machine gun was rendered inoperable by enemy fire he cradled the weapon in his arms and return to the forward defensive positions and september the assaulting force with withering fire. although his weapon overheated and burned his hands and his painful wounds still bled, sergeant gomez maintained his stand and upon orders to withdraw in the face of overwhelming enemy superiority remained to provide protective fire. sergeant gomez continued to pour fire into the enemy ranks and exacting a heavy toll and kaurkts and retarding their advance. he would not consent to leave his position for medical attention until the company established new positions. sergeant first class eduardo gomez's extraordinary heroism

and selflessness above and beyond the call of duty are keeping within the highest traditions of military service and reflect upon himself and his unit and the united states army. >> lori wagner. accepting on behalf of her uncle private first class leonard m. kravitz. private first class leonard m. kravitz distinguished himself by acts of gallantry and intrepidity while serving as machine gunner with 5th infantry regimen in korea on march and4

7, 1951. despite staggering losses, he pressed the assault with ruthless determination. when the machine gunner was wounded in the initial phase of the action, private first class kravitz seized the weapon and poured devastating fire into the ranks of the on rushing assailants. the enemy exploited a breach on the left flank and rendering the positions untenable. upon order to withdraw, kravitz remind to provide protective fire and troops moving toward enemy positions, he swept the hostile soldiers with deadly accurate fire killing the entire group. his destructive retaliation caused the enemy to put fire on his position and enable the friendly elements to withdraw. later, after friendly troops had returned, private first class kravitz was found dead behind the gun he had so heroically

manned surrounded by numerous enemy dead. private first class kravitz's extraordinary heroism and solve selflessness despite his death, were above and beyond the call of duty are keeping within the highest traditions of military service and reflect upon himself and his unit and the united states army. iris kneeron. accepting on behalf of her

father sergeant juan e. he distinguished himself by acts of gallantry and intrepidity while serving for the 3rd infantry information against an armed enemy in korea on april 27 28, 1951. that afternoon sergeant negron took up the most vulnerable position on his company's exposed right flank after an enemy force overran a section of the line. when notified that elements of his company were withdrawing, sergeant negron refused to leave his exposed position and instead delivering withering fire at hostile troops who had broken through a road block. when the hostile troops approached his position, sergeant negron hurled hand grenades at short range and halting their attacks. held the position throughout the night while friendly forces organized and launched a counterattack. the next morning after the enemy had been repulsed he was

relieved and found the bodies of 15 enemy soldiers surrounding his position. sergeant negron's extraordinary heroism and selflessness above and beyond the call of duty are in keeping within the highest traditions of military service and reflect upon himself and his unit and the united states army. michael david pena. accepting on behalf of his father, master sarkt mike c. pena. master sergeant mike c. pena

distinguished himself by acts of gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a member of company f. and 1st cavalry division against enemies in korea on september 4, 1950. that evening, under cover of darkness and a dreary mist, an enemy battalion moved within a few yards of master sergeant pena's platoon and recognizing the enemy approach he and his men opened fire but the accurate point blank fire forced the friendly troops to withdraw. pena reorganized his men and led them in a counterattack which succeeded in regaining the position they had just lost. he and his men quickly established a defense of perimeter and laid down devastating fire but enemy troops continued to hurl themselves at the defenses and overwhelming numbers. realizing that their scare supply of ammunition would soon make their positions untenable, pena ordered his men to fall

back and man a machine gun to cover their withdrawal. he single handedly held back the enemy until the early hours of the following morning when his position was overrun and he was killed. master sergeant mike c. pena's extraordinary heroism and cervical -- self lessness at the cost of his own life, are above and beyond the call of duty are in keeping within the highest traditions of military service and reflect upon himself and his unit and the united states army.

>> sergeant ashley randall. accepting on behalf of her grandfather private rivera. private rivera distinguished himself by acts of gallantry and intrepidity while serving as an automatic rifleman with 2nd blood toon 3rd infantry division during combat operations against an armed enemy in korea on may 23, 1951. early that morning, a large hostile force emerged from the dense fog and viciously attacked private rivera and his comrades. private rivera immediately responded by firing with deadly accuracy until his weapon jammed. without hesitating, he threw his rifle down and began to engage the enemy with his pistol and

hand grenades. at one point he crawled to engage in infiltrating enemy soldier in fierce hand-to-hand combat with only the sound of footsteps and shadows to guide his aim he held his position against tremendous odds and inflicting numerous casualties on the enemy until he found himself without ammunition of any kind except one grenade and a fighting spirit in utterly devotion to duty he pulled the pin from his last grenade and calmly waited for the enemy to reach his position. as enemy troops leaped inside the bunker the private activated the grenade knowing it meant his certain death. they discovered the bodies of four dead and dying enemy soldiers surrounding him. private rivera's extraordinary heroism and selflessness are above and beyond the call of duty are in keeping within the highest traditions of military service and reflect upon himself and his unit and the united states army.

>> that was president obama awarding the medal of honor to 24 veterans who served during world war ii, korea, and vietnam. just three of the 24 veterans honored in today's ceremony are alive. 23ive awarded posthumously to the families of the soldiers. it included jewish and african-americans and hispanics who were looked over because of their race. president obama were made sure they were not denied because of today's prejudice. we will continue to stream the event live on msnbc.com. joining me from new york is medal honor recipient colonel

jack jacobs from seattle, retired colonel bayer mccaffrey and david wood. colonel jack, i want to start with you as someone who has received the medal of honor. tell us what you can. we all just watched that ceremony. it's ongoing. but incredibly emotional. the folks who are still alive and then the generations that have passed for many families. three in some cases, veterans who deserve the medal of honor in world war ii and are only now receiving it, what does the ceremony mean to you and what was your take on today's event? >> it's very interesting. anybody who spent any time in combat will tell you the same thing. indeed in particular if you've been recognized for any kind of award and that is that you don't wear it for yourself. you wear it for all of those who can't. i can't think of anything that focuses your attention more than lots of people trying desperately to kill you and your friends and in the war, there is

not mudistinction among people. you fight to defend the company and fight to accomplish the mission and most of all you fight for each other. watching this ceremony brings to mind the notion of comradeship and the strength of character that gets developed in the crucible of war. >> general mccaffrey, he brings up a great point which is what happened to these individual stories. they are phenomenal and the bravery is unimaginable. and i guess i wonder, from a sort of a standpoint of the department of defense, they were tasked after congress passed this act with going back through the records, a span, i believe from 1941 to 2001, to look back and see if there was anybody that was denied the medal of honor because of race or religion. i wonder i mean, that seems like a herculean effort. how does the department of defense to begin to determine such things? >> well, it's tough. you know, a great day for the

army in particular who reviewed 600 some odd records. the navy and air force and marines reviewed almost 300 more. those who apparently were either hispanic or jewish and came up eventually with 24 recipients, i think three of whom were neither hispanic or jewish. i think jack and i talked earlier today. one of the things to remind yourself is that thousands of american soldiers, troops, airmen, marines, sailors, coast guardmen who are killed in action or wounded perform acts of great valor and are never recognized. so i think all of us were inspired and grateful to see these 24 u.s. army soldiers brought forward and used as an example to the serving military of what courage is all about. >> i just, from reading up on what was going to happen today, i know that, in some cases, the families of these soldiers went and sort of made the case that

their grandfather or father was or is deserving of the medal of honor. i mean, there is a process by which this is awarded and certainly familial involvement. . seems, general, part of that process. >> well, you know, it's pretty complex and a lot of these things are based on, you know, eyewitnesses and going back to world war ii trying to sort out these incredible acts of valor, is a tough opposition. but i think we ought to be pretty proud that today we saw a recognition of the enormous contributions that these men made, as colonel jacob said, fighting for their buddies and their countries and for many of them, at the loss of their own lives. the ultimate sacrifice. >> the general brings up a very important point, which is that we are acknowledging and honoring the sacrifices made by these soldiers and it seems like

we do this only very sporadically. not just honor but pay attention to the fact that people have fought and sacrificed for this country and continue to in our armed conflicts overseas. on the subject of discrimination, i wonder, as someone who has reported extensively on the military, we are talking about discrimination based on race or religion and i think it's a wonderful thing that, you know, we have sort of come to terms with our legacy of discrimination in these sort of areas and are trying to write the wrongs of the past. do you feel like -- in your reporting, do you sense that the military now is more integrated than it has been both in terms of women and in terms of lgbt service members? do you feel the question of discrimination we are headed towards a more perfect union as it were on that and that the armed services whether or not they will need to make concessions like these for female service members or lgbt

service members 50 years hence? >> those are big policy issues, but all of those issues that lgbt issue, the racial issues, all of those things have long ago been solved on the battlefield where, as general mccaffrey was saying, that the camaraderie, the intense love that is built up between combat soldiers and marines that enables them to say, yeah, i'll give up my life for you and i know that you'll give up your life for me. that is just overridden. all of those other differences so that in an infantry platoon or fire team or squad, you know, you'll find people from lots of different backgrounds and all of those issues have just gone away. it doesn't matter out there. it's nice to see finally the bureaucracy sort of catching up with these guys and saying, okay, yeah, i guess we could -- okay, i guess, you know, gays, we will let them serve too. and in this case, going back

through the records painstakingly and correcting those wrong's that have been done to these men. >> yeah. colonel jack, in terms of the bureaucracy catching up to the camaraderie and the colorblindness if you will that is on the field, what was -- i mean, if you with remember in 2002 congress passed this as an act. what was the resist ance of the dod and acknowledging there had been discrimination and then correcting that discrimination? >> this isn't the first time there has been a directed review of files to determine who may be -- should be awarded the medal or any other medal, as a matter of fact but were not for a wide variety of reasons. some years ago, i remember there was a review of the actions of the 42nd wretch mental combat team and the most decorated unit in the second world war and was

populated almost exclusively by japanese americans and these were kids who were in concentration camps effectively. they attacked pearl harbor. the defense department reviews ej either by direction or regularly the records of those who have been recommended just to make sure that the right people -- the right actions are are recognized. but they can't get them all. i'm reminded of and this observation of bob kerry, medal of honor recipient in vietnam lost his leg and was a senator from nebraska for many years. somebody once asked him what does it take to receive the honor? four things. have you to do something. people have to see it and they have to be able to write and they can't hate you. those are are the requirements. you think about all of the people who served valiantly in combat and nobody saw it or people saw it and they themselves were killed or

accidentally or on purpose, their recommendations were lost or destroyed. you realize why we say anybody who served in combat says we all fought for each other and we wear our awards for everybody else. >> you know, some of the stories, dave, today brought tears to my eyes and, obviously, the eyes of those in the audience. and the sense ever sacrifice and bravery we talk a lot about that. you have a new series of pieces on the huffington post that talk about the moral injury that some soldiers face, which is -- i mean, sort of the psychological part of fighting a war leaves scars that are as deep and profound and unhealed as many of the physical injuries sustained on the battlefield. tell us more. >> it's commonplace to observe that many veterans come home and don't talk about what happened. they will not talk about their war experiences and that is because a lot of bad things happen in war. and what we are discovering is

that many of these kind of experiences can be classified as moral injuries, which is a broad term that refers to the bad things that happen in combat that violate your own sense of right and wrong, the way we are all supposed to be, or your sense of yourself as a good person. for example, i've talked to many army medics who, on the battlefield, they are superb trauma, you know, take care of people who are very badly injured. almost inevitably, they come up against a case where a soldier or a marine is mortally wounded and cannot be saved. well, those medics feel such sorrow and grief at losing a close comrade but also guilt. there was something i didn't do. i forgot something. i didn't have this piece of equipment. they take it on themselves.

i look bad. i let this person die. that is moral injury. and it affects in lots of different variations, i think almost everybody who goes to war. >> it's a fascinating, i think, another facet of war and soldiers and veterans and what they sustain and an important read. thank you for joining us, david wood and also thank you to colonel jack jacobs and colonel barry mccaffrey. thank you for your time, gentlemen. >> good to be with you. after the u.s. moved forwards on sanctions, a defiant vladimir putin wasted no time to move forward. what that means for the white house is coming up next. [announcer] who could resist the call...

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in a spectacle of utter defiance putin's power play has

entered a new phase. the russian president this morning brushed aside internal condemnation and sanctions and signed a decree to annex crimea. he urged what he will called a reunification saying in people's hearts and minds crimea has always been an inacceptable part of russia. it is recognized as independent ukraine as 1991 and making the stunning swiftness of putin's actions more remarkable. talking about 19 days here. 19 days. between the date that russia started to seize control of key parts of the peninsula on february 26th and this sunday, the day russia forced a referendum to redraw an international border. hours after putin's hearts and minds addressed today, president obama spoke by phone to german chancellor merkel and called for an emergency leader with allied leaders scheduled to take place on the sidelines of next week's g-7 summit in the netherlands. the president has moved to

freeze the assets of seven russian officials including top aids to vladimir putin and the treasury department is imposing sanctions on four ukrainians including former president yanukovych and two crimea based separatist leaders. those sanctioned were not impressed. one said the sanctions were a big honor and, quote, i don't have accounts abroad. the only things that interest me in the u.s. are shakur and ginsburg. and pollock. i don't need a visa to access their work. no tragedy for me was another comment from klishas. set of sanctions deserves another. in response to the american restrictions on russians putin is set to release own set of sanctions twens u.s. ofgs aagais

and senators. according to the daily beast, senator dick durbin said, my lithuaniian mother would be product. john mccain who traveled to kiev last week to meet with ukrainian leaders was looking forward to and he said you think i'm not going to be on it? i would be honored to be on that list. it is not entirely clear whether putin's enemy list will include vice president joe biden. dispatched to warsaw to deal with the crisis did not appear bent on mending fences. >> unfortunately, russia's leaders have responded with a brazened military incursion with a purposeful ratcheting up of ethnic intention inside ukraine with a rushed and legal referendum in crimea that was not surprisingly reject by

virtually the entire world. >> what it means to have the action rejected by virtually the entire world remains to be seen. ukraine reportedly issued order to do permitting its soldiers in crimea to use weapons to protect their lives as the prime minister said it had entered a military phase. moments ago nbc news confirmed that defense ministry report one of its soldiers was killed today during an assault on a military base. we will be following that as it develops. after the break, as the search for malaysia airlines flight 370 enters day 12, the list of theories continues to grow. we will look at the pilot plot, the computer factor, and why it just might have been mechanical failure after all. former american airlines pilot tom casey and don berli will join me next. [ male announcer ] this is kevin.

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we are entering day 12 of the search for malaysia airlines flight 370 and while there are no leads, there is also no shortage of theories as to what may have happened to it. a lot of the focus remains on the pilots 53-year-old captain shah and cofilt hamid. the headline in "the new york times" reads the following. according to the times, the plane's first turn to the west away from its intended destination of beijing was programmed via a computer rather than by someone who may have been manually operating the plane's controls. that reinforces the theory the plane was deliberately diverted by the pilots or somebody with aviation experience. with no answer as of yet, authorities have reassembled a

flight simulator from the captain's home to see if he practices taking down the plane. background checks of the 154 chinese nationals on board revealed no suspicious ties. for the relatives of those passengers the men and women and children who spent another day in limbo. their patience for the conflicting reports has begun to deteriorate and turn into outright anger and with reason. today's thailand military admitted its radar detected a plane possibly flight 370 around 1:28 a.m. the night it disappeared. they didn't share that information because thailand wasn't specifically asked for the information. the complex and oftentimes contradictory information of the last 11 days has created a vacuum. one in which a multitude of bizarre explanations and sightings have flourished. today a new report from an island chain in the middle of the indian ocean say people

there on that island reported seeing a low flying jumbo jet. that is true it placed the jet outside the two flight corridors. other flight 370 theorists believe the plane planneded on 634 run wrways inside the searc area and others have returned to the original hypothesis. maybe it really was mechanical error after all. offering a startling simple theory pilot chris goodfellow says possibly a electrical fire and prompted the pilots to put the course on that runway. and says the runway would was on an island. it makes perfect sense in a fire they say. in the case of a fire, the spirs response it to pull the main buses and restore circuits

one-by-one until you have isolated the bad one. if they pull the buses the plane would go silent. as for the flight's ultimate end he suggests that the flight crew was overcome by smoke and the plane continued until it ran out of fuel or the fire destroyed the control surfaces and it crashed. joining me now is former fbi special agent and chief operating officer of the sufan group don berrelli who is a retired captain. the practicality of this latest theory you would turn off the communications your first and foremost priority is aviate and navigate as they say in the business. how does this theory sound to you? >> strenuous! it's reverse reasoning and it comes from a point of not knowing to a point where we do know something from a beginning where you just can't reason from that point.

i think that as time goes on, the theories are going to get more bizarre. as you said, they are going to get very extravagant and we have to go with what we know. we know the plane landed out of fuel or landed someplace. it's either down or in a runway someplace and that is it. we don't know why it happened and we don't know where it went. we don't know. >> okay. don, i want to go to you in terms of looking here for something sinister which has been the modus operandi of governments in the last few days. terrorist networks, some kind of sabotage effort. given where we are now, as the captain points out, the theorys grow ever more outlandish and elaborate, especially in regard to sabotage as the days go by. is mechanical failure, in your mind, still very much an operating possibility? >> i think at this point anything is a possibility. we don't have a lot of tangible evidence to go on. obviously, there is no physical evidence because there's no

wreckage that has been found so we have to work in the margins and try to assist those searchers with some information that may help lead them to pinpoint a location where that airplane might be. one of those avenues of investigation is looking at people with the skills to fly that airplane and access and it starts with the pilots but it goes beyond that. it's anybody else on that airplane, and then from that, you look at their backgrounds. what motivation might they have to do something sinister and sabotage the plane? sometimes those answers take a long time to reveal themselves. >> certainly it looks like this is shaping up toob very long investigation. but i wonder, don, about what you think of the communication and the cooperation between countries. because the news from thailand this morning, i think, was dismayed a lot of people that they reveal this information now. if you're talking about a broad investigation that is going to require a lot of coordinates between intelligence agencies, i

mean, it would seem from the outside that we are not on firm territory in terms of countries cooperating with one another. >> well, it would seem that way. you have to understand that air defense systems and their capability to detect aircraft coming into their territory, these are some of the most, you know, closely guarded national security secrets. so, for example, in the united states, we have an agreement called the five eyes where we share everything with our allies, the brits, canadians and new zealand and australians. in this situation, thernty are willing to share what their capabilities are and what they are not. it makes it that much more difficult when it comes to cooperation and sharing of intelligence that could help this investigation. >> captain, i want to ask you in terms of landing, we had this map. i think we can pull it back up of 634 runways in the region, in the arc that has been sort of

isolated as to where the plane may ultimately be. how practical -- a fairly huge plane. you've flown them. could land as a runway and not be detected? >> you could land at a runway and not be detected fountain runway is remote. it doesn't have to be very long either. a 777 can land and stop in 3500 feet in low weights. it can be taken off. remember that 747 last month that landed at the wrong airport? that was only a 5,000 foot runway and they landed there at night. another point. the idea of the plane's computers being taken over, there is such a thing as a whisk whiskey compass and lindbergh used it to get to paris. if the runway is 1-4 they check the 1-4 against the 140 heading on the compass. even if the computer systems were messed with, the captain would be able to find the error by comparing it to whiskey compass if he had the suspicion

that something was up. but he also has a radio and you make a mayday or pan call. pan, pan, pan, or mayday, mayday, mayday and takes about a nan oa nano second to do that and they didn't do that. >> don, in terms of what happens next. if the plane is never found and later assume our intelligence is where it is today that there is no -- we never determine a cause for this crash, we never find the plane. one would still assume that certain safety measures will be taken in the aftermath of this, which is to say are you optimistic that black box technology, for example, will be either standardized or that satellite communications will be secured in a way that you can't just sort of turn off a plane's communications devices and fly effectively dark across the ocean? >> i think any time you have a crisis like this, you need to learn from it and take a step back and, you know, i'm sure

this event, over time, will be reviewed by many experts, recommendations will be made, and in terms of just kind of air safety procedures, technology. all of these type things. any time you have a situation like this, you try to learn from it. right now, we are in crisis mode and doing our best to try to find any evidence, try to find the airplane itself, any technical information that can help those families locate their loved ones, but when the dust settles and we get a chance to look back and review it, i'm sure that recommendations will be made and we will all learn from it. >> don boreelli and tom casey, thank you for your time and thoughts. that is it for now. "the ed show" is up next. ♪ good evening, and welcome to oip the ed show" live from new york.

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