the u.s. marine corps officially ending their search today after making, quote, every possible effort to recover the servicemen following a deadly midair collision. lucas tomlinson live at the pentagon this morning. do you know what caused the crash? sandra, officials say it appears the marine f-18 came in too fast and collided with the k c-130 refueling plane. 28 service members have been killed in aviation accidents this year. midair refueling is dangerous especially so because this one took place at 2:00 in the morning. the pilot would have been wearing night vision goggles. it took place 200 miles off the coast of japan thursday. the japanese prime minister sent his condolences to president trump. two were able to eject but the pilot later died. his back seater survived with broken bones. all five marines aboard the k
marines, after a midair refueling accident off the coast of japan. here s abc s chief global affairs correspondent martha raddatz with what she s learned tonight. reporter: tonight, with five marines still missing, and the search hampered by strong winds and low visibility, time is running out. the f-18 fighter, like this one, was attempting to refuel in the middle of the night, with the massive kc-130 tanker, essentially a flying gas station, when the two aircraft collided midair. the refueler has retractable hoses with baskets on the ends. the fighter jet must plug its own nozzle into the moving basket. the aircraft coming within about 20 feet of each other, using night vision goggles. although the f-18 has radar, it s night. you have no visual horizon. it s a dark sea underneath you. and visual illusions are easy to mistake, especially when you re trying to rendezvous close on another airplane. reporter: the two marines who
parts, consulting and things of that nature with regard to many of our military programs with the saudis that can be put on hold. if the u.s. and the brits, for example, deny further spare parts in midair refueling, their air force will be grounded in about two days. we don t have to have $110 billion, leverage over the saudis and they would be desperate to receive assistance from us. interesting, marco rubio made that their point, that arms deals are, in effect, because of they support their means of exerting influence with allies and partners, et cetera. the final point, you mentioned boycotting this conference, this davos in the desert as it s being called this week. and a lot of folks are pulling out. let s be frank, that s just a conference. when it comes to cold, hard cash, will u.s. firms that make a lot of money in saudi arabia,
activity. but for criticizing or opposing a politician? no, that has not been a typical reason for such action. steve hall is a cnn national security analyst and retired cia chief of russia operations. steve, thanks so much for coming on with us. john brennan, let s talk about him first. the former cia director. an agency where you you served. and you served with him. how would you describe his reputation? well, i can first of all just discuss who he was when he was the director and i was in the position that i was at cia. he was one of the most straightforward direct, honest, you know, full of integrity kind of director that you would want to work for. he was somebody that really command the room when he walked in. i saw him do it not only at cia, but in dealing with several foreign intelligence services. he was well respected within the