Afghanistan when bergdahl vanished. The world lead. Still so much wreckage from a crash that killed 150 people but as recovery teams collect shreds of debris slung across the alps investigators now have an audio file from inside the cockpit. What if anything did the pilots say that could help officials decipher just why this plane went down . And families of the victims still trying to deal with the staggering loss. So many futures cut short, including that of three americans. So who were they and who did they leave behind . Welcome to the lead. Im john berman in for jake today. Major stories breaking this afternoon. We are following new developments on that doomed jet that went down over the french alps but we begin today with breaking news in our national lead. Just minutes ago, the army announced that Bowe Bergdahl the army soldier who spent five years in taliban captivity, will now face charges of desertion. Abandoning his brothers in arms. He could face life in prison here if convicted. Bergdahl disappeared in the middle of a war zone on june 30th 2009 captured by the taliban. For the next five years, the only time his family saw him was in proof of life videos posted by the taliban. Showing bergdahl bearded, beleaguered. Then last summer bergdahl reappeared this time being walked over to american troops waiting in blackhawk hospitals to whisk him home. The price for his return, far from cheap. The Obama Administration traded five taliban commanders that had been held at guantanamo bay. Virtually the second the white house announced bergdahl was back on american soil and the president walked arm in arm with his parents in the rose garden and white house officials said he served with honor and distinction, loud questions came quickly, from dozens who served with bergdahl in afghanistan about the circumstances under which he wound up in the hands of the taliban. Theres a lot more to this story than just a soldier walking away. Now an internal investigation by the army seems to agree with those accounts. Cnns Barbara Starr is at the pentagon. Barbara, explain to us what they have what this means and what comes next. Reporter well lets start with what happened today. As you say, the army now saying it is charging Bowe Bergdahl with one count of desertion, one count of what they call misbehavior before the enemy, shamefully in the words of the army code of justice, shamefully leaving his post. Now this will move to an article 32 proceeding. That is the equivalent in our civilian world of a grand jury proceeding. An officer will be appointed to again hear all the evidence talk to witnesses, cross examine witnesses and have to decide if there is sufficient evidence to then be referring all of this to essentially a General Court martial. Is there enough evidence for a reasonable chance of conviction. There are several options there. It could go to a General CourtmarCourt Martial martial. It could go to a lesser type of proceeding. You could have discipline. You could have absolutely nothing. The army general in charge after months of reviewing this says he wants to send this down the line to the next level of military justice, have that fullblown preliminary hearing, that article 32 like a grand jury and have it go through that process and have those people decide is there enough evidence to move forward. He certainly saw enough evidence to send it that far. Now it will spend some period of weeks and months going through the rest of the system. I think everyone has the same question. Will Bowe Bergdahls military and civilian defense counsel now approach the army and look for a plea bargain, look for a deal to try and either keep bergdahl out of a military jail or get him as little military jail time as possible. Big questions, major developments. Barbara starr at the pentagon thanks so much. I want to speak with a soldier who served in afghanistan with Bowe Bergdahl. Josh corder is on the phone with us. Thanks so much for joining us. The breaking news minutes ago that Bowe Bergdahl whom you served with in afghanistan, will be charged with desertion. How do you feel about this announcement . Well i feel that its finally some justice being done. Took a long time to get here from when he returned but i think its probably because the military was doing their due diligence. Im glad they did, because at this point im sure they probably have enough evidence to convict him of whatever charges they are putting him up against. Officials say the maximum sentence he could receive is life in prison. Do you have an opinion on what sentence he should receive if convicted . I dont think that he should get any kind of forgiveness for time served. I heard that at one point. They said maybe hes going to get forgiveness for five years for time served. In my opinion, thats kind of like his punishment for abandoning us in afghanistan like he did. If they say its life in prison i really hope that he serves the sentence. It wasnt enough that he was a prisoner of the taliban for five years, in your mind . No. Because his actions put him there. I kind of feel like the desertion and the rest of these charges are probably on behalf of the families and members of the services who died or lost a Family Member because of him. Your unit looked for him in afghanistan. I know you feel and others feel like you put your lives on the line to find him when he was being held by the taliban in afghanistan. Now that the military has charged him with desertion, does that make you angrier about what you did there for him . I wouldnt necessarily say angrier. Im no longer in the army. I served the best i could and then got out and thats the way that it works in the military. This is a very extenuating circumstance and i just feel like i feel in a way relieved. The white house held a ceremony with his parents when he returned to the United StatesNational Security advisor susan rice commented that he had served with honor and distinction. Again, now the army itself calls him a deserter. Do you now think that the white house should regret the actions it took to bring him home . I didnt understand them to begin with. I was shocked. Obviously thats why we all kind of reacted in the way that we did to try to get the news out there right after that rose garden announcement. Im not necessarily sure if regret is the word. I would probably say that they need to reconsider in the future actions like this especially looking at more of the evidence. Given that the army now says he is a deserter do you think then that the administration shouldnt have done this trade, traded five taliban officials to get him back . No. I said the same thing when it first happened. I dont think that its especially worth the life of a deserter to return five high taliban commanders back to the battlefield. Thats beyond me. You dont think even its tantamount to leaving someone behind no matter what he did . I mean the same thing could be said about the people who are captured by isis and we didnt do any negotiating to get those people back. He was in the hands of a terrorist organization. Yes, hes in the Armed Services but the fact that he deserted should have been part of the equation. Josh i appreciate your time. Thank you so much for talking to us. Again, i appreciate it. I know you have been watching this and waiting for this day in some ways for a long time. Thank you. Thank you. Want to bring in larry younger, a former attorney in the j. A. G. Court. Thank you for being with us. Help us to understand what these charges were that were issued today and what the likely outcome is. Will this ever come to a full Court Martial or is this pageantry before a plea deal is struck . Thank you for allowing me to be here today. As i understand this breaking news there are two main charges, desertion, which is a violation of the uniform code of military justice article 85 and in particular, its alleging that bergdahl quit his Unit Organization or place of duty with intent to avoid hazardous duty. The second is a violation of the uniform code of military justice article 99 misbehavior before the enemy. What is that . Misbehavior before the enemy is quite serious. Any member of the armed forces who before or in the presence of the enemy engages in several types of any one of which types of misconduct most notably in the bergdahl matter is running away. In addition, one who casts away his arms or ammunition in front of the enemy, or one who otherwise causes danger or hazardouses causes a hazard to his unit or command, that can be punished by a Court Martial if it gets to a Court Martial with some of the most serious punishments which include frankly, potentially death, life imprisonment, total forfeit they said the maximum penalty would likely be life in prison. Will it get to that in your experience or do you think the military and bergdahls attorneys will try to find some kind of deal here . There are a lot of factors it will take into account as this proceeds. The ball is now in bergdahls defense counsels court to decide what to do. Two options immediately are to consider one, offering a discharge deal in lieu of the Court Martial. By accepting that discharge in lieu of Court Martial, Army Regulation 635200 has a chapter 10 allows this. Theres a procedure. May be too early for that to happen. I would assess this would likely go to an article 32. The military equivalent if you will of a grand jury. The difference is Sergeant Bergdahl or bergdahl will have an opportunity to cross examine witnesses and present his own evidence that would lend to defend him or at least matters in extenuation, mitigation to include nearly five years of captivity. To get to your question what could happen i think it will get to an article 32 investigation and then the General CourtMartial Convening Authority will have to decide do we accept a deal that the defense might decide to pursue or not. We have to see what his strategy is. Thanks so much for being with us. In our world lead investigators are one step closer to finding out what happened to the doomed passenger plane that crashed in the french alps. They started a preliminary analysis of the cockpit voice recorder. The most important detail . The pilots were saying in the last moments of the flight. Thats next. 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Our world lead happening now, forensic teams working to digitally decipher an audio file that could be the key to unraveling why Germanwings Flight 9525 and the 150 people on board slowly descended to their doom. It could be just a matter of hours now before investigators get their first real listen at the pilots final words. Today, recovery teams dropped to the crash site from helicopters that were flying overhead. Officials caution now that the process of mapping the debris and piecing together this puzzle is just a huge undertaking. Now teams have begun the daunting and heartbreaking task of identifying the victims bodies. The state department confirmed just a couple hours ago that three americans were on the plane when it crashed. Want to get to cnn aviation correspondent rene marsh. So many new developments today, including we heard from the company. Reporter right. Just a short time ago, lufthansas ceo says they are struggling to understand how an airplane that was in perfect technical condition with two experienced pilots was involved in such a terrible accident. Tonight, investigators are closer to answering some of the many unanswered questions. Some of those answers are starting to come from the planes cockpit voice recorder. This is the strongest clue investigators have in their hands. The exterior of Germanwings Flight 9525s cockpit voice recorder looks damaged but french authorities revealed today they have had some success. We are very glad that the first flight recorder has been retrieved yesterday and the French Authority confirmed just a few hours ago that one of the audio streams is readable. Reporter the cockpit voice recorder captured audio up to the moment of impact. It will provide critical information like whether the pilots were talking in the minutes leading up to the crash. What were they saying and what else was happening in the cockpit. Theyre prepared to work with whatever theyve got to get the information. Its more than just voice. They can hear what switches are being thrown and what buttons are being pushed. They can tell a lot about whats going on in the cockpit from that listening device. Reporter flight 9525 took off at 10 01 Tuesday Morning from barcelona bound for dusseldorf germany with 150 people on board. Investigators say the plane reached a cruising altitude of 38,000 feet. It descended for about ten minutes. The plane disappeared from french radar when it was at around 6,000 feet. Investigators say the descent appeared controlled. The curve is compatible with an aircraft controlled by pilots except for the fact that we cant imagine pilots consciously sending an aircraft into a mountain but it may also be compatible with an aircraft which is controlled by an automatic pilot. Reporter finding the planes second black box will be critical to unlock the mystery of what brought down the jet. On the flight data recorder investigators will get a second by second breakdown of how the planes systems were functioning. Was everything working or was there mechanical failure. The status of the search for this critical piece of the plane is unclear. Today, frances president said this. Translator a second black box is being looked for. Its outside frame has been found but unfortunately not the black box itself. At this very moment there are men in the field searching. Reporter a claim french investigators seem to dispute. Translator those rumors are not at all confirmed. We have not localized the black box. We have not found any debris of the black box. Reporter even if the planes flight data recorder is not in one piece, data may still be retrieved. Its located in the tail of the plane. The boxes encased in stainless steel and the memory cards containing the valuable information is wrapped in thermal insulation. They are designed to withstand impacts 3,400 times the force of gravity, can survive flames up to 2,000 degrees for an hour and can withstand extreme cold. Investigators wont say if they heard voices in the cockpit up until the moment of impact. What theyre doing right now is analyzing the audio to determine what sounds they hear who is speaking. As far as the debris field, investigators say the size of the field suggests that the plane broke up on impact and not midair. They can look at the size of the pieces and how wide the field is and make that determination. Rene thanks so much. Well have more about the debris field and the audio coming up. But first, the fbi is looking into possible criminal activity related to the crash of flight 9525. Cnns pamela brown has been in touch with her sources. You have breaking news. Its still very much a mystery as to what happened but i can tell you fbi agents based in france germany and spain are looking through all sources of intelligence and crossreferencing the passenger manifest to see if there is anyone of interest that the u. S. Is aware of who may have been on that flight flight 9525 according to two Law Enforcement officials i have been speaking with. What we have learned is so far, preliminarily in the process of running these names through data bases, it hasnt turned up anything that stands out or anything linking these