Passengers at jfk airport caught on camera, walking right through a security lane without being screened. Some setting off metal detectors. Why did tsa fail to notify police for two hours . An investigation is now underway. And emotional announcement. Former teen star, David Cassidy, reveals he is battling dementia. This, a day after he forgets his lyrics and falling off stage. What he says about his struggle and how hes coping. 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 . Im matt lauer. Alongside Bryant Gumbel, who is filling in while savannah continues on maternity leave. Pal, great to have you. Thanks for having me. Thanks for not changing the locks. I was able to get in this morning. Thats right. Its like riding a bike. Keep saying that. Were going to have fun with you this morning. Busy morning, though. We have a lot to talk about, including breaking news coming out of australia where a pilot and four american tourists there killed when their plane crashed into a shopping mall. It happened in melbourne. Nbcs Kelly Cobiella has the latest. Kelly, good morning to you. Reporter matt, good morning. This happened in full view of commuters in australia this morning. Just 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 this may be a plane crash. Reporter witnesses said it sounded like a bomb went off. And thats what it looked like from the highway. The crash caught on this dash cam. And on this one. The video obtained by australias channel 10, showing the twin prop plane flying low seconds before it went down. The last second of the plane banking and just hit. Reporter both the mall and the plane were engulfed in flames. The fire so intense, rescuers couldnt get close. It was pretty horrible standing there. You couldnt do anything. Reporter the wreckage so badly mangled, the aircraft was unrecognizable. Debris scattered on the highway. Onboard, an australian pilot and four american tourists. Reportedly on their dream golf vacation. There were no survivors. A sister tells nbc news, retired fbi agent Greg Reynolds dehaven was among those who died. Investigators say the plane was a private chartered flight, a twinengine beechcraft. We understand there was a catastrophic engine fire. But were unsure at this time. Reporter it tooks hours to put out the flames. Now australias Crash Investigation Team is trying to figure out what went wrong. The one clue came from the pilot. He was able to get a mayday report off reporting catastrophic engine failure. Once again, thats now the focus. And 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. Kelly, 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. Lets get to nbc National Correspondent peter alexander. Reporter bryant, good morning. Welcome back. The president for the first time, will convene his National Security council in the situation room with a new security adviser, h. R. Mcmaster. He spoke out saying it was a beautiful tribute to the many citing rosa parks and booker t. Washington among others. He said we need to fight bigotry in all of its forms. Today the administration is expected to roll out new plans to crackdown on illegal immigration as well. This morning the white house is zeroing in on the border expected to unveil new immigration guidelines. Immigration sources tell nbc news they could add 10,000 more immigration agents, update procedures to help those illegally crossing into the u. S. , and force parents who may smugglers who bring in their children. Also this morning, new details about the white houses plan to replace the socalled travel ban now held up in the courts. One official telling nbc news the Trump Administration is backing off an explicit ban of all syrian refugees. But the new executive order will ban travel from seven predominantly muslim country. This as mr. Trump appeared between two officials at his florida resort as he replaces Michael Flynn as National Security adviser. H. R. Mcmaster will become the National Security adviser. Reporter a Senior Administration official telling nbc news the president chose h. R. Mcmaster hes a war year and defense intellectual. The official says mcmaster will be able to choose his own team. Mr. President , i would like to say thank you very much. Reporter a highly decorated army general, mcmaster served a reputation as a successful combat commander and strategic thinker. He has been critical of past military leaders. Even writing the book, dereliction of duty, where mcmaster criticizes the joint chiefs were not confronting president johnson in the vietnam war. Thank you very much. Were going to do a great job. Reporter the president s announcement coming one month after taking office, as demonstrators gather in cities across the country billing it 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 own official state visit. The president behaving like a petulent child. He is there, he is elected. We have to work with him. Reporter as the new administration fights criticism, conservatives are fighting controversy. You guys have been reporter this lightning rod columnist by breitbart, formally run by trump strategist steve bannon. I care about free speech and expression. Reporter now disinvited from speaking at this weeks gathering of conservatives at the cpac conference, after a video shows him making comments about underage sex. Comments he tried to defend on his facebook page. Saying i have never defended and would never defend child abusers. And following this latest controversy, Simon Schuster says it is cancelling publication of his new book, titled dangerous. Also overseas the British Government said it will not rescind the invitation to President Trump for a visit scheduled later this year. President trump is hosting the first National Security meeting today in the situation room with the new National Security adviser. Bryant . Peter, thank you so much. Lets bring in mark halperin. I miss savannah. But this is awesome. Incredible, right . Thanks, mark. We spoke last week about this being a pragmatic approach by this administr theyre going to rewrite it. As opposed to going to the supreme court, it covers the same seven predominantly muslim countries. Theres an adjustment on the syrian refugee issue. No matter what, is it going back to court . It will go back to court. This has a better chance of surviving. They get a restart. They removed some of the provisions that the court found objectionable. And some of the things people thought politically were objectionable. It could get through but it will be challenging. Lets talk about general mcmaster. As peter pointed out, he wrote dereliction of duty. He speaks to power. How is he going to square that reputation with a white house that clearly doesnt abide dissent . Its going to be fascinating to watch. But you have the same thing with the secretary of defense, mattis, the secretary of state, mr. Tillerson, all three of the gentlemen have a history, the National Homeland security secretary, all four of them have a history of willing to speak up if they are challenged. It speaks its well of the president to pick somebody well thought of and who will challenge power. Well see if it works in practice. Who was the patron . Who was the sponsor on this . A young senator from arkansas, a military veteran, who has gotten extraordinary sway on National Security as a firstterm senator. He recommended his former colleague, his former boss. And very much influential in this white house. Watch tom cotton, somebody that people think might run for president himself. Theres been discussion on President Trumps view on russia and vladimir putin. Mcmaster has an opposing view. He sees russia as a threat, as an adversary. Might he be able to change the president s view on that . Its interesting. A lot of people in the administration have that view. Vice president pence has that view. Weve seen the new u. N. Ambassador, nikki haley, speak out against russia. With almost everything with donald trump, its a work in progress. He picks these people who are willing to challenge him. And its counter to his reputation as someone who is obstinate. In fact, it shows flexibility. In point effect, did he have a choice of taking the job . Well, other people reportedly turned it down. This is a guy with an extraordinary resume. We all think we know donald trump so well and understand everything about him. This pick, the fact that he offered it and accepted it is a great sign of stability. Just a few days ago the sort of main storyline was, this is a crisis of National Security. He needs somebody in the job and has found someone. Lets see again how much authority mcmaster has in the position. Well take you back to the campaign, though, and then candidate trump said disparnling things about this nations generals. Now hes got three generals in mattis, kelly and mcmaster, in key positions in his administration. Sounds like hes trusting generals now. 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 from capitol hill from republicans but from democrats. These picks are people who hillary clinton, if she had won, might have put in there. Again, 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, very good sign of stability and reassurance for a lot of people. Mark, thanks very much. Good to have you with us in this time capsule edition of today. Lets get now to a disturbing story out of missouri where vandals caused extensive damage to a Jewish Cemetery. This comes amid a wave of threats against Jewish Community centers all across this country. And now ivanka trump is speaking out about that. Nbcs blake mccoy has the latest. Blake, good morning. Reporter good morning. Overnight here near st. Louis, someone had draped a sign on the front of the cemetery, stop the hate. Dozens of headstones toppled over the weekend. Police not calling it a hate crime. But it comes as the fbi is investigating dozens of bomb threats made to jewish Centers Across the country. 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. I cannot imagine such desiccation occurring in a holy place like this. I feel nervous. I walk through there and just felt like this is just 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. No 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 last week by a reporter for a jewish orthodox newspaper. There are people who are committing antisemitic acts or threatening to. He said he was going to ask a very simple, easy question. And its not. Not a simple question. Not a fair question. Sit down. I am the least antisemitic person youve ever seen in your entire life. Reporter trumps daughter, ivanka, and her husband, are jewish. She tweeted monday, 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 made it clear that the actions are unacceptable. In a brand new interview this morning with nbcs craig melvin, President Trump has denounced these attacks calling them horrible and saying its going to stop. Matt and bryant . Blake mccoy, thank you very much. This morning, an investigation is underway into a serious Security Breach at jfk airport here in new york. It resulted in 11 people getting through security without being checked. Stephanie gosk is at jfk with new information. Stephanie, good morning. Reporter bryant, good morning to you. These 11 passengers had their tickets and i. D. S checked. They had their bag their carryon baggage screened and checked, but when they got to that metal detector, no one was there and three of them triggered the alarm. When authorities at the airport found out, there was a scramble to find them. New details 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 the jfk 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 canine team was present at the checkpoint. And the tsa works with a layer of security layer, both seen and unseen. Were confident the incident presents minimal risk to the Aviation Transportation system. Travelers learned of the breach monday. I dont know how that happened. Seemed like theres tight security here. I find it shocking, though, given how tight security is these days. Reporter nationwide, the tsa sct 440 airports each day. The role of a tsa chief is still vacant until President Trump appoints one. Nearly two years ago, a devastating undercover test found agents failed to detect 90 of fake 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 its conducting an inquiry that could lead to disciplinary action and retraining. Back to you guys. Stephanie, thank you very much. Were learning more now about the deadly attack on the halfbrother of North Korean Kim jongun. Kim jongnam died last week after apparently being poisoned in kuala lumpur. Malaysian Health Officials said they will not release the cause of death until the lab tests are 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 tickets 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 Good Samaritans last night after they fell through ice in a pond in central park. Seventeens were pulled out of the water. It has been unseasonably warm here the last few days. Making the offlimits pond even more dangerous. There are warning signs posted, in case you were wondering. Officials say all of the teens are expected to be okay. Katie, come on out here, come back here. Lets make it official. Where is jean . Where is willie . Where is jean . Its unusual. It is fun. Good to see you, bryant. And the folks out west dont want to see anymore moisture. But there is the 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 mississippi mouth every hour. Theres 15times that average flow flowing into the pacific right now. Into the west coast. In fact, its represented by the rainfall. The rainfall year goes from october 1st, into september of the next year. So far, since october 1st, San Francisco, sacramento, and los angeles, all with more than their average rainfall for the year. Theyve gotten it just since october 1st. You can see that heavy rain continuing, from southwestern oregon into the sierra foothills. One to three inches of rain coming again today. And then, finally, it tapers off. Were going to get to your local forecast coming up in the next 30 seconds. Good morning. Im meteorologist kari hall. Microclimate weather alert continues with scattered rain and also some flooding around parts of the bay area. The creeks and also some of the rivers. Now we are looking at storm ranger picking up on rain moving through the south bay. Some of the scattered showers lingering in the north bay. Way, dron draon draper called and wanted to know when were going to lunch. Soon, al. Coming up, a day after falling off stage dur