The Lowy Institute

Lowy Institute Military Fellow James Brown speaks to Commodore Peter Leavy who was in charge of the joint-task force organised to search for the missing Malaysian Airline Flight 370. Commodore Leavy discusses the difficulties that were faced by his team during the search including communication problems with other nations, weather issues, and operational limitations. Transcript Interview between Commodore Peter Leavy RAN, Commander Joint Task Force 658 and James Brown, Military Fellow, Lowy Institute for International Policy JAMES BROWN: I’m talking to Commodore Peter Leavy, who was the commander of the Joint Task Force involved in the search for Malaysian airlines flight 370. Commodore Leavy, how did this mission come together, how did the task force stand up? CDRE PETER LEAVY: The ADF put together a task force a couple of weeks after the aircraft itself went missing. It first went missing, as you know, on the 8th of March. Initially, as with any search and rescue activity, it was headed up by AMSA, the