THE AIRLINER – AT 9:52 A.M. ET:  There is very little new overnight about the Malaysian airliner, whose disappearance has turned into one of the great mysteries of our time.  However, there is this tidbit from Fox that may bear some study:

Authorities are also examining whether the jet's disappearance was tied to a 9/11-style plot masterminded by Al Qaeda's Khalid Sheik Mohammad, The Telegraph reports. Such a plot was mentioned by a British-born Saajid Badat earlier this week at the New York trial of Usama bin Laden's son-in-law Sulaiman Abu Ghaith.

Badat said that a Malaysia-based Al Qaeda cell of four or five people had planned to take control of a plane, using a shoe bomb to gain access to the cockpit. He added that he had met the jihadists, one of whom claimed he was a pilot, at a terror camp in Afghanistan and gave them a shoe bomb for use. The Telegraph reported that one possible target of such an attack could have been the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, formerly the tallest buildings in the world.

The newspaper also reported that Badat, who was sentenced to 13 years in prison for his part in a conspiracy to blow up a transatlantic flight with shoe bomber Richard Reid, first made claims in 2012 about a possible shoe bomb attack.

Anthony Glees, a professor and director of the University of Buckingham’s Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies, called Badat's evidence "credible."

"These spectaculars take a long time in the planning,” a British security source told The Telegraph.

COMMENT:  We have no judgment on this because we have no independent facts. 

The United States has dispatched very sophisticated assets to the search area, including a Navy Poseidon aircraft that can "see" underwater by electronic means. 

At the same time, the backgrounds of the flight crew are being intensively investigated.  I caution, though, that these probes are being carried out by Malaysian authorities, which means that statements are issued by the Malaysian government.  That government has its own agenda and priorities.  Any public statements should be understood in that context.

March 17, 2014