FOX "Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace" - Transcript: Flight 370
Interview
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WALLACE: For more, we want to bring in the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Texas Congressman Michael McCaul. And here in studio, Peter Goelz, former managing director of the National Transportation Safety Board.
Chairman McCaul, what is your latest information on what happened to Flight 370 and where it is now?
REP. MICHAEL MCCAUL, R-TEXAS: Well, there's still a lot of mystery behind this. One thing we do know, this was not an accident. It was an intentional, deliberate act, to bring down this airplane. And the question is who is behind that.
There are a lot of warning signs along the way. The fact the transponder was turned off, the flight pattern changed abruptly. We had two Iranians with stolen passports that were not checked with Interpol, which we would have done in this country. One-way tickets bought with cash that the hijackers were known for doing.
So, there are a lot of these questions raised, but I think one thing is very clear, Chris, is that this was an intentional, deliberate act that unfortunately probably killed 239 people.
WALLACE: As we said, they're now focusing on the crew and the passengers. Any evidence that you have heard, excuse me, so far from your intelligence sources, that the pilots would have had any interest in trying to sabotage this flight, or any information that any of the passengers would have had the technical expertise to take over the plane and do all the things that apparently were done?
MCCAUL: Well, we don't have any evidence this was terrorist related, although you can't rule that out at this point in time. My understanding is the Malaysian authorities now have searched the homes of both the pilot and the co-pilot, for information that could lead us to determine why this was done. I think all the evidence, though, Chris, is pointing towards the cockpit, towards the pilot and the co- pilot.
The motivation and intent as a former federal prosecutor, I'm always concerned about, is unclear at this point in time.
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WALLACE: Then the question, if, in fact, it is one of the pilots, the question becomes why, Chairman McCaul? And there has been speculation that this plane may have landed somewhere with the hope that it could be used at some point later as a weapon, perhaps loaded with explosives. How seriously -- as the chairman of House Homeland Security, how seriously are security officials taking that scenario?
MCCAUL: Well, we're concerned with that. I know there are two routes that it could have possibly taken. One would be toward the north towards Kazakhstan which would be close to Afghanistan, Pakistan.
I think that would be unlikely, because our radar system, detection systems, would have picked that up had it gone that route. I think the intelligence community and homeland security believe that possibly more likely went the southern route, which would be towards Australia, Indonesia. Now, two scenarios are here. One is that the plane ran out of fuel and landed in the ocean, and it's, you know, that's a bad scenario.
The other one is it landed in a country like Indonesia, where it could be used later on as a cruise missile, as the 9/11 hijackers did. That's something we have to use our imagination in these situations.
We don't have all the information before us. But we have to look at all these possibilities, whether it'd be towards Kazakhstan, which I do think our radar detection systems would have picked that up. Or to the south towards Indonesia, which is, you know, a friendly country to the terrorists, and used the land there and used later, in a plot to -- to blow up an airplane.
WALLACE: Having said all of that, what do you think is the probability that that was the point of this? That it was a terror act, to try to land the plane and use it as a weapon?
MCCAUL: I think from all the information I've been briefed on from, you know, high levels within Homeland Security, National Counterterrorism Center, intelligence community, that something was going on with the pilot. I think this all leads towards the cockpit, with the pilot himself, and co-pilot.
I still am concerned about these Iranians on board, and the stolen passports and the fact that Interpol checks were not made with them. I know there have been interviews with the families and the individual involved getting them the tickets. But it's way too early, Chris, to, you know, to be -- I think the jury is still very much out on this strange mystery tragedy.
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