Obama: U.S. Remains Committed To Jet Search; Search For Flight 370 May Move North
WHITFIELD: President Obama is offering some words of encouragement for the Malaysian government and during the third leg of his Asian trip, Mr. Obama said Malaysia has worked tirelessly to find missing airliner, Flight 370, and has been forthcoming with the U.S. about information. Meanwhile bad weather suspended the latest air and sea search today. I'm joined now by CNN's safety analyst, David Soucie and aviation analyst, Mary Schiavo, former inspector general with the U.S. Transportation Department. Good to see both of you. All right, so the president's remarks, pretty interesting. Might come as a surprise to some, especially the family members who say we're not getting enough information, but the president says that Malaysia has been forthcoming with information to U.S. authorities. So what do you make of these comments, Mary? What does he mean by that really? How detailed could this information be?</s>MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, some of it is very detailed because remember, the Malaysians gave to the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, the pilot and co-pilot's home computers, the pilot's flight computer and the home simulator that he had made and I without a doubt they are probably calling on the United States FBI to help them with the cell phone issue and cell phone tower issue as well. So the FBI played a major role in some of what would have been, I supposed, attributed to the criminal investigation by Malaysia and then supplying the Bluefin-21 and other assets, the Navy supply ship, there had to be a fair amount of communications to get those assets from the U.S. and so I think that the compliment and the exchange was genuine.</s>WHITFIELD: OK, and David, you know, speaking of the Bluefin, its mission is nearly complete in terms of that particular search area before authorities say it's going to move a little further north. How encouraging is that to you, that I guess reassessing the space that it needs to scan, extending it a little further north. Do you feel like that gives it a better chance of finding something?</s>DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: Well, not necessarily the Bluefin. But I think as they move further north, they are going to have to bring in some additional tools, some additional expertise and some fresh eyes. But could I mention back to the president real quickly --</s>WHITFIELD: Sure.</s>SOUCIE: -- I support what Mary was saying exactly, but one thing I am surprised is that he didn't push the GOP to start pushing through a confirmation of the ambassador to the U.N. for ICAO. Remember we have no representation on ICAO whatsoever right now and this is the person that should be coordinating especially in the preliminary report and that sort of information as it passes back and forth. So I feel like we're kind of jumping a link here by having them coordinate directly to our military and it misses a level of coordination, particularly as we move forward with coming up with laws and regulations. The cards are being dealt and we don't have a seat at the table.</s>WHITFIELD: And that's the political, you know, persuasion here. I'm wondering about the investigation of, you know, the air and sea search. Mary, what other technology might be able to be introduced here. We have heard about the Remus 6000 that can go 6,000 meters. But we are not hearing that they've actually been moved to this area. So what could compliment the Bluefin or even perhaps replace it?</s>SCHIAVO: Well, there are many different kinds of underwater autonomous vehicles. The Remus is one. There were others that have been used in the past. Some are manned, some are unmanned. Each one is going to require a ship to accompany it. You're going to have a lot of on-water assets and ship assets. But also I think the intelligence function of the United States could be very useful because after all the prime minister in his interview with Richard Quest mentioned that they still consider it both criminal and civil. We could help them on that front as well with those assets and I still think that one of the most important things to do is to examine what the realities are of the performance of that pinger and the search under water. And they could use this opportunity to really experiment, see how far that pinger can be detected and see what happens over time.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, Mary, David, thank you so much. We'll talk again. More on this and what else to look forward to this week in the ongoing search for Malaysia Flight 370. Thank you. All right, racist remarks allegedly from an NBA team owner sending shock waves through the sports world. One player who was specifically mentioned in those comments is now speaking out. We have the reaction from Magic Johnson, next.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Mea Sharapova may have endorsement deals with Nike, Samsung and Posh among others, but in 2012, the 26- year-old launched a candy business called "Sugar Pova," the curious choice for a world class athlete.</s>MARIA SHARAPOVA, HIGHEST PAID TENNIS ATHLETE: I'm an athlete and being healthy is a part of my life. Living a healthy lifestyle, understanding what foods are important to eat and what is good for my body. But at the end of the day, whether you're an athlete or working in an office, everyone loves a treat and everyone loves candy and when I was young and finish a practice, what would I ask for, I would ask for a lollipop.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sharapova was even said to have considered a little name change ahead of last year's U.S. Open, but her agent said the legal hassle of becoming Maria "Sugar Pova" for two weeks just wasn't worth it. But the global media coverage of the story shows that she's not just good at tennis and candy, but a pretty shrewd marketer, too.