Screened. Some setting off metal detectors, then boarding a flight. Why did the tsa fail to notify police for a full two hours . An investigation now underway. And emotional announcement. Former teen star David Cass Sid did i reveals hes battling dementia. What hes saying about his struggles and how hes coping on today, tuesday, february 21st, 2017. From nbc news, this is today with matt lauer and savannah guthrie. Live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Good morning. Welcome to today on a tuesday morning. As my kids would say, wait, what . Matt lauer alongside bryant g gumball who is filling in for locks. Its like riding a bike. Keep saying that. Keep falling off. Were going to have a lot of fun with you this morning. Busy morning. A lot to talk about including breaking news. Coming out of australia, a pilot and four american tourists killed when their plane crashed into a shopping mall. It happened in melbourne. Kelly has the latest. Good morning to you. Reporter matt, good morning. This happened in full view of commuters this morning in australia. A devastating end to a dream vacation for these four americans. The state department confirming their deaths but not their identities at this point. And investigators are looking into whether a catastrophic engine failure caused their charter plane to crash into the roof of an outlet mall. Receiving multiple calls. Appears that this may be a plane crash. Reporter witnesses said it sounded like a bomb went off, and thats what it looked like from the hia cam. And on this one. The video obtained by australias channel 10 showing the twin prop plane flying low seconds before it went down. I saw the last sort of second of the plane banking and then it just hit. I dont think there was any time to do anything. Both the mall and the plane were engulfed in flames. The fire so intense rescuers couldnt get close. Its pretty much just a smoking wreck when we got there. There was pretty much nothing left on impact. The wreckage so badly mangled the aircraft was unrecognizable. Debris scattered on the highway. On board an australian pilot and four american tourists reportedly on their dream golf vacation. There were no survivors. Pretty horrible. Standing there couldnt do anything. Reporter investigators say the plane was a private charter flight, a twin engine beach craft similar to this one in trouble moments after taking off fr we understand that there potentially was a catastrophic engine failure but were unsure at this stage. Reporter it took hours to put out the flames. Now australias Crash Investigation Team is trying to figure out what went wrong. And one key clue this morning comes from the pilot himself. He was able to get a may day call off reporting catastrophic engine failure. Once again, thats now the focus. By the way, there were workers inside that mall this morning getting ready to open for the day. Matt and bryant, remarkably nobody on the ground was injured. Very lucky. Kelly cobiella, thank you. Now to the white house where the Trump Administration is busy working on new rules for immigration. This as the president settles on a new National Security adviser in the wake of Michael Flynns dismissal. Peter, welcome. Reporter good morning. Welcome back. The president will reconvene his National Security council with a new National Security adviser, its a pick drawing wide praise from republicans and democrats including some of the president s fiercest critics like john mccain calling it an outstanding choice. The president is expected to reset his policy cracking down on illegal immigration. This morning the white house is zeroing in on the border expected to unveil new immigration guidelines. Administration sources tell nbc news they could add 10,000 more immigration agents, update procedures to hold those illegally crossing into the u. S. And enforce penalties for parents who pay smugglers to bring in their children. Also this morning new details about the white houses plan to replace its socalled travel ban now held up in the court. One official telling nbc news the Trump Administration is backing off an explicit ban of all syrian refugees, but the new executive order will still halt travel from seven predominantly muslim countries. This after President Trump appeared between two his florida resort revealing his pick to replace Michael Flynn as National Security adviser. General h. R. Mcmaster will become the National Security adviser. Reporter a Senior Administration official telling nbc news the president chose hr mcmaster because he is a, quote, warrior and defense intellectual and mr. Mcmacmaster will be ablo choose his own team. Thank you very much. I want to say what an honor this is. Reporter he earned a reputation as a successful combat commander and strategic thinker. Hes been highly critical of some of americas past military leaders, even writing the book dereliction of duty where he criticizes the chiefs for the nor confronting president johnson. The announcement coming one month after taking office as demonstrators billed the day as not my president s day. In new york, chicago, and los angeles. In london thousands gathered outside parliament as the government there debated the president s official state visit. The president behaving like a petulent child. He is there, he is elected. We have to work with him. Reporter and as the new administration fights criticism, conservatives are fighting controversy. Has been lying to the lightning rod columnist from breitbart formerly run by trump strategist steve bannon. Free speech and free expression. Disinvited from speaking at cpac conference. After a recently unearthed video shows him making comments about under age sex, comments hes tried to explain on his Facebook Page saying i have never defended and would never defend child abusers. Reporter and following this latest controversy schuster are canceling his book. Overseas the British Government has said it will not rescind that invitation to President Trump for an official state visit scheduled for later this year. It will go on as planned even after 1. 8 million britts signed a petition opposing it. Bryant . Thanks very much. Let us bring in mark halpern. Good morning. I miss savannah, but this is awesome. Like old times. Thanks, mark. We spoke last week and we talked about this being a more pragmatic approach by this administration on this executive order. Theyre going to rewrite it as opposed to going to the supreme court. It covers the same seven predominantly muslim countries. There is an adjustment on the syrian refugee issue. No matter what, is it going back to court . It will go back to court. This is a better chance of surviving. A restart date. They remove some of the provisions that the court found objectiole politically was objectionable but it will be challenged. Lets talk about general mcmaster. As peter pointed out, the man who wrote dereliction of duty. He speaks from power. How is he going to square that reputation with a white house that clearly doesnt buy dissent . Its going to be fascinating to watch. You have the same thing with the secretary of defense, mattis, secretary of state, mr. Tillerson. All three of these gentlemen have a history, the Homeland Security secretary, all four of them are willing to speak up if challenged. The president picked someone so well thought of and will challenge power. Which begs the question, who is his patron . Who was his sponsor in this . Tom cotton, young senator from arkansas whos a military veteran whos gotten extraordinary sway on military as a firstterm senator. He recommended his former colleague, former boss and very much influential house. Watch tom cotton, somebody people think might run for president himself. Theres been so much discussion about President Trumps view on putin and russia. Mcmaster has an opposing view. He sees russia as a threat, adversa adversary. Might he be able to change the president s view. Vice president pence has that view. Weve seen the new u. N. Ambassador nikki haley speak out against russia. Like everything with donald trump, its a work in progress. He picks these people who were willing to challenge him and its counter to his reputation as someone who is obstinate. In fact, hes shown some flexibility. I dont mean to demean mcmaster in any way, but i believe hes the first active duty officer since colin powell. Did he have a choice of taking the job . Well, other people have reportedly turned it down. This is a guy with an extraordinary resume. You know, we all think we know donald trump so well. We all t this pick, the fact that he offered it, the fact that it was accepted is a great sign of stability. Just think a few days ago the main story line was this is a crisis of National Security. He needs someone in the job. Hes found someone. Lets see again how much authority mcmaster has. Let me take you back to the campaign and then candidate trump said some disparaging things about this nations generals. Now hes got three generals, mattis, kelly, mcmaster, in key positions in his administration. Sounds like hes trusting generals now after he said i know more about now he brought them in. Look, Mattis Mattis came out strongly against torture and the president said im going to defer to him. So on the National Security front, this is another pick that is not just well received on capitol hill from republicans but democrats. These picks are people who Hillary Clinton if she had won might have put in there. Again, though, lets see how much influence they have. This president , i think, tends to rely on people immediately around him having the National Security adviser right there down the hall from the president is a big deal. Reassurance for a lot of people. Mark, thank you very much. Good to have you with us on this time capsule edition of today. Lets get to a disturbing story where vandals caused extensive damage to a Jewish Cemetery. It comes amid a wave of threats all across the country. Now ivanka trump is speaking out. Nbcs blake mccoy has the latest. Blake, good morning to you. Reporter matt, good morning. Overnight near st. Louis you can see someone has placed a sign, stop the hate. Dozens of headstones toppled here over the weekend. Police not yet calling it a hatd crime but it comes as the fbi is investigating dozens of bomb threats made to Jewish Centers nationwide. Headstones toppled at a Jewish Cemetery near st. Louis. This morning family members with loved ones buried here are taking the attack personally. This is just awful. Occurring in a holy place like this. I feel nervous. I walk through there and i just felt that this was a senseless act, a faceless, cowardly, hateful act and thats unnerving. Reporter it comes amid a rise in antisemitic activity with the fbi investigating a string of bomb threats against Jewish Community centers nationwide. Since the new year Authorities Say 54 Jewish Centers have been targeted in 27 states. 11 new threats called in monday. This Jewish Center in birmingham, alabama, forced to evacuate for the second time in a month. So far no actual attacks have taken place and no bombs have been found. If the intention was to scare us, these bomb threats have failed. Reporter President Trump was asked about the bomb threats by a reporter for a jewish orthodox newspaper. There are peo c very simple, easy question, and its not. Its not. Not a simple question. Not a fair question. Okay. Sit down. I am the least antisemitic person you have ever seen in your life. Reporter trumps daughter ivanka and her husband are jewish. She tweeted monday after the cemetery vandalism, america is a nation built on the principle of religious tolerance. We must protect our houses of worship and religious centers while the white house added the president has made it abundantly clear that these actions are unacceptable. Reporter police here are reviewing Surveillance Video from the cemetery. Its unclear if it captured anything. This morning no arrests have been made and the cemetery is closed. Matt and bryant . Blake mccoy. Thank you very much. This morning an Investigation Underway into a serious Security Breach at jfk airport here in new york. It resulted in 11 people getting through security without being checked. Nbc s with new information. Good morning. Reporter bryant, good morning to you. These 11 passengers had their tickets and i. D. Checked, they had their carry on baggage screened and checked, but when they got to that metal detector no one was there and three of them triggered the alarm. Now when authorities at the airport found out there was a scramble to find them. New details this morning into how 11 passengers managed to walk right through a precheck lane without being screened. Three of them set off metal detectors and were given no secondary screening. Two of the three shown here. Those three passengers were later identified. They boarded a flight to california where they were checked upon arrival. The incident took place at 6 00 a. M. Monday morning at jfks jetblue terminal, but two hours passed before the tsa notified the airport police. By then the passengers were gone already on their presumed flights. In a statement the tsa said a checkpoint at the time of the incident and the tsa works with a network of security layers, both seen and unseen. We are confident this incident presents minimal risk to the Aviation Transportation system. Travelers learned of the breach monday. I dont know how that happened. Seems like theres pretty tight security here. I find it shocking given how tight security is these days. Reporter nationwide the tsa screens 2 Million People at 440 airports each day. The role of the tsa chief is still vacant until President Trump appoints one. Veteran deputies are running the agency which has been under public scrutiny. Nearly two years ago a devastating under cover test found agents failed to detect 90 of state weapons and explosives. Tsas biggest challenge, guarding against complacency as airports remain a top target. The passengers arent suspected of any wrongdoing. The tsa says inquiry that could lead to disciplinary action and some retraining. Matt and bryant, back to you guys. Stephanie, thanks so much. We are learning more now about the deadly attack on the half brother of north Korean Leader kim jongun. Kim jongnam died after apparently being poisoned in kuala lumpur. Malaysian Health Officials said today they will not release the cause of death until the lab tests are all completed, but they say the autopsy showed no evidence of a heart attack or puncture wounds. So far police have arrested four suspects including two women who were allegedly seen approaching kim as he stood at an airport ticketing kiosk. Now to some frightening moments just a few blocks away from here in new york city. Seven kids it seems were rescued by a couple of Good Samaritans last night after they fell through the ice at a pond in central park. Seems by the time the firefighters arrived the kids had been pulled out of the it has been unseasonably warm making the pond more dangerous. There are warning signs posted in case you were wondering. Officials say all the teens are expected to be okay. Time for the weather. First, katie, come on out. Come on back here. Lets make this official. Wheres willie . Wheres jean . Come on. Unusual, isnt it . It is. It is different. It is fun. Its good to see you, bryant. The folks out west dont want to see anymore moisture, but there is that Atmospheric River weve been talking about. Give you an idea how much moisture is in this thing. Consider this, 26 billion gallons of water flow through the mountains of mississippi every hour. Theres 15 times that average flow flowing into the pacific right now into the west coast. In fact, its represented by the rainfall. The rainfall here goes from october 1st into september of the next year. So far since october 1st, san francisco, sacramento andos average rainfall for the year. Theyve gotten it just since october 1st. We can see the heavy rain continuing from southwestern oregon into the sierra foothills. Another one to three inches of rain coming today and then finally it tapers off. Were going to get to your local forecast coming up in the next 30 seconds. Good morning, everybody. Im storm team 4 meteorologist chuck bell. We have temperatures in the upper 30s and low 40 area. A bit of a chilly start but well get just enough sunshine with the mostly cloudy sky. Just enough sun to warm it up from the mid to upper 50s. 59 in washington, 60 down towards charlottesville. Tomorrow there might be an isolated shower. Mostly in the first half of the day and mostly south of washington. Folks want to know when were going to lunch. Al, thank you very much. Coming up, a day after falling off stage during a concert, former teen idol David Cassidy reveals hes battling dementia. Well hear from him. Special delivery. Bao bao is set for a one way trip to china. Well check that out coming up live. This is today on nbc. Nda, b bow b bah bah, on his way to china. First, coming up o perfect shot. And why its landing her in hot water with police. And when it comes to your water with police. And when it comes to your hi hey ive made plans for later in case this date doesnt go well. Likewise but, funny story. On top of that . My mom is my best friend. Uh oh. Yeah. Oop theres the rescue text from my roo