LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: The American pilot of a missionary plane shot down over Peru was still recovering today and we should have an update soon on his condition. Kevin Donaldson says that he followed procedure before the Peruvian air force shot down his plane, mistaking it for a drug smuggler's. A mother and baby from the U.S. were killed in that attack. CNN national security correspondent David Ensor joins us now live from Washington. He's got more on the investigation in this case -- David.</s>DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Leon, there are parallel investigations, both by the Peruvian government and by the U.S. government. A group headed by the State Department looking into whether any U.S. mistakes were made and whether there are any lessons to be learned from this tragedy. What happened, officials say, is that this Cessna plane, the missionary plane, was fired upon by a Peruvian air force jet after hearing from a surveillance plane that was in the area. And that surveillance plane, officials confirm, was a U.S. plane, owned by the Defense Department and being used by private contractors who were contracted out by the CIA, by the Central Intelligence Agency. So the -- there was a U.S. involvement in finding the missionary plane in the first place. The -- officials say that the U.S. crew tried to slow the intercept down, that they felt the Peruvian officer onboard their plane was moving too quickly on this. They raised serious concerns about where this was going, that they suggested that the -- the tail number on the plane should be found first, but that the Peruvian air force, through the chain of command, authorized the shootdown and it went ahead. The investigations will continue, and in the meantime, the planes that do this kind of surveillance work have been grounded until -- until those investigations are complete. So, as one official put it, there's an opportunity for the drug lords at the moment -- Leon.</s>HARRIS: David Ensor reporting live from Washington. Thanks.
Americans Say They Tried to Delay Peruvians From Shooting at Plane