Is GPS Technology Lacking In The Hunt For Flight 370?
TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. Continuing our World Lead, of course, the new information that we've received today indicating that missing Malaysia Airline flight 370 traveled about an hour off course after its transponder stopped transmitting, well, it took four days for that information to emerge from a senior Malaysian air force official. In a world where every move we make is tracked by someone or another, how is it possible that technology hasn't been able to locate this plane yet? Let's bring in Noah Shactman. He's executive editor at "The Daily Beast." He's also a nonresident fellow at the Brookings Institute's Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence. Noah, thanks so much for joining us. After four days, we're now being told that a military radar picked up the plane an hour after initial reports that contact was lost. What is different about a military radar versus a civilian aviation radar?</s>NOAH SHACTMAN, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, THE DAILY BEAST: Sure. And thanks for having me, Jake. Military radars are of course more powerful than their civilian counterparts. And they can also, depending on the model, can also sort of see through the brine of the sea and can look lower than civilian radar can. They are also differently positioned. So, we're now getting hit on this military radar from the Straits of Malacca. That's a well-known piracy hub, and there's been counter-piracy activities by the Malaysian military and others for more than a decade there. So in a sense, if they found the plane over the Straits of Malacca, it makes sense that the military would find it and not the civilian authorities.</s>TAPPER: What about the black boxes? What are crews doing to find that?</s>SHACTMAN: You know, the black boxes, which are actually orange, do have a beacon on them. But the thing is that those beacons can only call out for about five miles or so. So it's still very, very, very hard to find these things in the open ocean. It's really - it's the smallest of needles in the biggest of haystacks.</s>TAPPER: Assuming that the plane is more than five miles underwater, you're saying?</s>SHACTMAN: No, I'm saying that gives you a five mile radius to look in. But look, they just found this thing hundreds of miles off course, so who knows where it is. So it helps, but it only helps to a certain degree.</s>TAPPER: So we've heard that forces from 10 different countries are scouring the region. What are they carrying on their aircraft and ships to try to find this plane?</s>SHACTMAN: Yes, that's right. Forces from the Chinese military, the Malaysian, of course, the American military, the Australians, the Thai, the Vietnamese on and on are all looking for this thing. It's really an incredible hunt. And the U.S. military in particular is kind of treating it like "The Hunt For Red October." They are using some of the most sophisticated sub hunting equipment, magnotometers to look for metal. They are using acoustic sensors to hear if the plane might still be moving. Infrared, regular optical sensors, satellites. It's really an impressive array and, unfortunately, they still haven't been able to find anything, despite all of that gear.</s>TAPPER: Are we sure that the most advanced technology is being used? What are some of the other ones that searchers may be employing?</s>SHACTMAN: Well, it really seems like they are throwing just about everything at it, even the array of sensors used to detect nuclear launches. Those sensors are being used. They are called infrasound. They look for very low sound waves -- are being used. It's really kind of everything. And, still, they have no luck. It's amazing.</s>TAPPER: This may sound like a strange question, but after the Boston Marathon bombing, there was a lot of crowd sourcing. Now, a lot of that information was proved to be incorrect, but some of it was proven correct. Considering all of the satellite technology and things that the people at home have access to, is there any way for people who want to help the search who are sitting at home and maybe are advanced with their computers, is there anything that they can do?</s>SHACTMAN: Actually, it's not such a crazy question. Digital Globe, which is the leading commercial satellite imaging company, they provide a lot of the online maps, they provide images to the U.S. military, they've opened up their archives for the public to go and scour to see if they find anything. Now, at the moment, that public facing website is down, but I'm told that it should be up shortly and, yes, maybe there is something in that wide open ocean that can be found by you and me.</s>TAPPER: Just the idea of all of that data and bringing more eyes to it maybe could help find this airplane. Noah Shactman, thank you so much. We appreciate your time. Coming up, thanks but no thanks. Why Secretary of State John Kerry is refusing a sit-down meeting with Vladimir Putin. That's next. Plus, a daughter begging her father to come home safely. A mother holding out hope her son will return. The heartbreaking stories of families desperate for answers. Coming up.