How Long Will Investigation into Pilots Last?
SCIUTTO: Welcome back to THE LEAD, and more now on our world lead. Though we still don't have any concrete proof Flight 370 even crashed into the Indian Ocean, investigators say that, if it did crash, we cannot rule out the possibility it was a deliberate act. They are not only interviewing the pilot and co-pilot's family members and friends, but closely scrutinizing their actions in the days leading up to the flight. CNN justice correspondent Pamela Brown joins us now with more. Are they finding anything worrisome as they do this?</s>PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: So far, no, but we're still early on in the investigation, Jim. Sources I have been speaking with say that investigators haven't found anything that would support or rule out the idea that either pilot planned to take down that plane. Now their family members are breaking their silence for the first time.</s>BROWN (voice-over): With few clues to work off of, sources say examining the two men in the cockpit is still a top priority. But those who knew them best are speaking out in their defense. In an interview with CNN's Jim Clancy, the former CEO of Malaysia Airlines said that he knew veteran Captain Zaharie Shah well.</s>ABDUL AZIZ ABDUL RAHMAN, FORMER CEO, MALAYSIA AIRLINES: He's an excellent pilot and I think also an excellent gentleman. I think they are going the wrong way pointing a finger at him.</s>BROWN: And the current CEO of Malaysia Airlines also defended him and his co-pilot, Fariq Hamid, following the plane's disappearance.</s>RAHMAN: Based on their records, they had been quite exemplary.</s>BROWN: Shah's youngest son, 26-year-old Ahmed Seth, defended his father in an interview with "The New Straits Times" Tuesday night, saying he understands his father better than those criticizing him. "I have read everything online. But I have ignored all the speculation. I know my father better," he said. Sources tell CNN that despite speculation of deliberate action to divert the plane, investigators haven't yet found any evidence to suggest a premeditated act by either pilot. A U.S. official tells CNN that a preliminary review of the captain's simulator and both pilots' computers have not yielded a so-called smoking gun so far. The captain, seen here in a new tribute video posted online, did not leave a suicide note, a source in Malaysia tells CNN. And no evidence was found in his home to suggest financial or marital problems. Captain Shah, seen here going through airport security, was a respected pilot who had been with Malaysia Airlines since 1981, flying more than 18,000 hours. The 53-year-old was married with three grown children. CNN is not showing the faces of his entire family. Captain Shah's daughter was reportedly a student studying in Melbourne, Australia. The family home was here in a gated community. But a source close to the family says his wife routinely stayed somewhere else when he was flying. Shah was a public supporter of Malaysian opposition party leader Anwar Ibrahim and attended pro- democracy rallies. In his free time, he posted videos like this one online -- showing him in front of his home flight simulator, talking not about his job but about his interests in home improvement projects. Less is known about Shah's co-pilot, Fariq Hamid. He was engaged to his flight school sweetheart. After recently finishing his training on a 777, he was on his first flight in the cockpit unsupervised on the jumbo jet.</s>BROWN: And the FBI is expected to hand over analysis of the hard drive soon, evidence that's pulled from it could provide clues or leads for Malaysian officials to follow up on and that could end up being important in this investigation. But as of now, again, we are reiterating, no smoking gun has been found. And as one official I spoke with put it, these pilots are victims until proven otherwise -- Jim.</s>JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Do we have unrealistic expectations about how quickly they would come to some working theory here? I mean, this is a slow -- this could be a long plotting, slow investigation, couldn't it?</s>BROWN: Right. And from an investigative standpoint, you know, the people I've spoken to who have done this type of investigation say this is still very early on. You know, three weeks in we're all looking for answers, but if you think about the first week, they are trying to kind of wrap their heads around what might have happened, there was a lot of focus on mechanical failure. So, they really only had a couple of weeks to really sort of dig in to the background of the passengers and the crew members. And, of course, this investigation keeps going back to the pilots because there's nothing else to explain the plane's disappearance.</s>SCIUTTO: Right. We may have to sort of dig down and wait a long time. Be prepared for that. Thanks very much, Pamela Brown, justice correspondent. So, where does this investigation into pilot's background go from this point? Joining me now is former FBI and CIA counterterrorism official Phil Mudd. Phil, I wonder if you could comment on that. You know, we've been -- we want answers certainly and more importantly, regulators and officials want answers, and the families want answers. But realistically, should we be bearing down and expect this to take weeks, months before you have any hard answers?</s>PHIL MUDD, FORMER FBI AND CIA COUNTERTERRORISM OFFICIAL: I think we should. You think about the avenues of investigations that the investigators have to pursue, that's ground crew, crew on the plane, the guys in the cockpit, that's -- the passengers on the plane. And then expand that out. Associate's family who might have had conversations with them weeks ago. I have respect for the family who's defending the pilot, but I don't think the investigators are either accusing or letting him off the hook. This is just the way the investigation is going to unroll in a situation as complicated as this.</s>SCIUTTO: Do you think we should prepare ourselves for the possibility, that in light of all of the mysteries around it, in light of the fact that the biggest piece of evidence, right, is sitting in the bottom of the southern Indian Ocean in very difficult conditions, should we prepare ourselves for the possibility that you never get a hard answer to what happened here and why?</s>MUDD: I think there's a possibility of that. Look, if we have a crime, we don't have the criminals or the crime scene. I was listening to the earlier conversation about the expansive Indian Ocean they're looking at. I used to look at that kind of imagery as a CIA expert. This is going for a needle in a haystack. So, three weeks in, I agree it's early, but we don't have a shred from e-mail, instant messages, friends, family, anything in terms of things like what this fellow searched for on Google. We don't have anything in the ocean that suggests to me we found a plane. So, if we're thinking we're going to get quick answers, I think we're going to be disappointed.</s>SCIUTTO: Let's talk about that, you bring up motive, because they've been looking at the hard drives, they've been talking to family and friends. And to our knowledge, at least at this point, they haven't turned up anything hard on motive and yet, Malaysian officials have said a number of times that they are leading towards the idea that this was a deliberate act. In your experience, and you've covered a lot of investigations like this, involved in them and led them, how unusual would it be to have a deliberate act without a clear motive or indication of a motive?</s>MUDD: I think that would be a bit surprising, especially in the 21st century. Think of yourself, think of myself, think not only of the conversations we have with friends and family and associates, think of the monstrous digital trail you leave. Did he never look at anything on the Internet if there was a conspiracy that was related to the conspiracy, did he never send an e-mail, did he never send a text message? To me, this is hard to believe in the 21st century. One other quick point, as a career analyst, I've seen analysts make one consistent problem over time and that is confusing the difference between what we know and what we think. I'm not persuaded yet myself that we know this was not a catastrophe that had to do with the mechanics on the plane, that had to do with something that happened with the electrical system. We're running to the pilots because we don't have any other answers.</s>SCIUTTO: Let's talk about resources for a second, because as you described this protracted process without answers, even the possibility of no answers, how long does the FBI and NTSB, other U.S. organizations involved in this investigation, how long do they invest those resources, that money, that manpower, before they give up or at least take a back seat and pull back until something new is discovered?</s>MUDD: There will, unless this is a resolved, there will always be an investigator 10 years, 20 years, 30 years down the road looking at this problem. You remember, we looked at the FBI case that many Americans have forgotten, Whitey Bulger for years, he was a Boston organized crime fellow who was only found in California years after we lost him. You remember Eric Rudolph, who was the abortion clinic killer stuck in the mountains in North Carolina, looked for him for years. So, you've got to remember one thing, there's Americans dead here. This is potentially a crime scene. The guys I witness at the bureau, the investigators, the agents, the analysts, they will not let this bone go until there's an answer.</s>SCIUTTO: Well, that's a relief