Flight 370 Being Investigated as Criminal; Malaysian Officials Meet With Families
MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to NEW DAY. It's half past the hour. Let's take a look at your headlines. A devastating 8.2 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Chile triggering mass evacuations, landslides, fires, and power outages. There are reports of wide- spread damage. Seven-foot tsunami waves were reported overnight off Chile's northern coast. At least five people have died. New revelations about NSA spying on Americans. The director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, admits in a letter the agency used a legal back door to perform warrantless searches of e-mail and other electronic communications. This is the first public confirmation by intelligence officials that the NSA searched data bases specifically for information on U.S. citizens. Secret Service Director Julia Pierson assuring Senate committee members that recent misconduct by agents are isolated incidents. She spoke in a closed meeting after three agents were sent home from the Netherlands last week when one was found passed out drunk. This is just the latest in a string of bad behavior. She told senators that she made clear to her staff that she has a zero-tolerance policy for unprofessional behavior, both on and off duty. Washington D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray suffering a stunning setback in last night's Democratic primary. He's out after one term, soundly defeated by Councilwoman Muriel Bowser. Gray is facing corruption allegations involving his 2010 campaign. Bowser supporters are hailing her victory as a win for honest government. Those are your headlines at this hour. Kate, over to you.</s>KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Michaela, thank you very much. This morning, Malaysia's chief of police confirmed the search for flight 370 has been classified now as a criminal investigation. And now Malaysia Airlines is increasing security on their planes. This, after a Malaysian government source told CNN the flight's turn off course is being considered a criminal act. But with so little evidence -- so little evidence at least released to the public, what are investigators looking at? How is this a criminal investigation? Joining me now to discuss is retired FBI supervisory special agent Steve Moore joining me from Los Angeles. Steve, thank you very much for waking up early. I want to get right to that question.</s>STEVE MOORE, RETIRED FBI SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT: Sure.</s>BOLDUAN: We have such little direct evidence that at least has been released by Malaysian officials leading the investigation. What do you see here that points to a criminal investigation?</s>MOORE: I see nothing that would lead anybody to make it anymore of a criminal investigation than just a speculative investigation. As Chris said earlier, they're checking everything from food to cargo. That's responsible. Checking to make sure it could -- that isn't a criminal act is part of the responsible process, but you can't just label it as such.</s>BOLDUAN: Now, one of the things you just pointed out is one of the new things we're learning as being reported by the Associated Press is they're also looking into the cargo and the food on the plane for the possibility of a poisoning or at least to eliminate the possibility of a poisoning. You say that's just responsible. You don't think that indicates that they're leading the investigation one way or the other.</s>MOORE: Absolutely not. What you have to do is just cover every base. There can't be any questions when this is over. You -- if somebody says, "Ah, but did you see that?" You know, yeah, we did. We looked at everything. This is what it is. But right now, it is no more responsible to say it's a criminal act than it is to say, by the way, we've decided it's food poisoning. There's no evidence.</s>BOLDUAN: They're also pointing out the four possibilities -- this is also new that's coming out this morning in terms of their investigation, which they point out would be hijacking, sabotage, personal problems and psychological issue. Does this at least tell you they're ruling some other possibilities out or does this for you also say they're just kind of running the gamut?</s>MOORE: I think this says they're running the gamut. I would add a few to that. I think you have to have a holistic approach to this investigation. And until you find the wreckage, and until you examine the wreckage, we probably aren't going to know anything definitively.</s>BOLDUAN: Now from -- obviously, from a distance, how do you -- what do you think, what's your assessment of how the investigation has gone so far?</s>MOORE: I think the investigation by the Malaysian authorities has been kind of embarrassing. I think the Australians and the rest of the western world's investigation and the eastern world has been much more credible. The problem is, when you lose credibility with the passenger families, you get them doing things like -- like picketing your officers or having sit-ins, things like that. They've lost people's confidence. And now it's really going to be somebody else who's going to have to give the definitive word on the investigation.</s>BOLDUAN: Now, they're still leading the investigation, though. I mean, you -- you -- you've called it an embarrassment. Is there a way to make up -- to make up for it? Are they -- they have acknowledged that things were slow to pick up in the beginning, but are they gaining ground at all now? I mean, they're calling it a criminal investigation. And I was talking to David Soucie about this earlier. And he said that also assists them in being able to restrict the information flow. If they say it's a criminal act and they're looking at it in that direction, they also aren't going to be releasing maybe the amount of information they would if they classified it as something else. Do you see that?</s>MOORE: Yes, I can see that. And I can see there's political reasons why they might want to call it a criminal act. But right now, I don't think it's retrievable. I mean, if your family, God forbid, was on that airplane, you would certainly not consider the Malaysian authorities' word the last word on this. You would want to hear it from somebody else. I think they've lost the confidence of the world essentially in this investigation and they're gonna -- the world is going to take somebody else's opinion on this or somebody else's evidence on this.</s>BOLDUAN: We do know that many nations are assisting as much as possible, as much as they're allowed to. They said they've done some -- they've gotten 170 statements at this point, and it's clear that this investigation is to far from over. Obviously, the main piece is still missing, where the plane is. Steve Moore, it's always great to see you.</s>MOORE: Right.</s>BOLDUAN: Thanks so much.</s>MOORE: Thanks.</s>BOLDUAN: Chris?</s>CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: And Kate, the point that you and Steve are making there obviously counts the most with the families. And coming up on NEW DAY, we're going to speak with a man whose mother was on board the missing jetliner like so many other family members. And he is desperate for answers. He wants some straight talk from Malaysian officials, and we're going to find out what they disclosed to families overnight. Stay with us.