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US Still Lacks Translators in Vital Languages

Intelligence, military officials often unable to read texts, emails

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff

Posted Aug 31, 2009 2:03 PM CDT
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(Newser) – Nearly eight years have passed since 9/11, but national security agencies remain disturbingly low on translators for crucial dialects, the Washington Times reports. In Afghanistan and Pakistan, al-Qaeda and Taliban operatives email and text-message each other freely in languages the CIA largely ignored before 2001. "I can't explain it," says a congressman. "No. 1, Congress has been pestering them. No. 2, you would think it's important for them to do their job."

Intelligence officials say they’ve offered big money for translators but are still coming up short. Many promising candidates can’t pass background checks, according to one former officer—as first-generation immigrants, they have families deemed “not trustworthy.” He says tapped phones often remain unmonitored because of the translator shortage, and in one case, an Iraqi bomb maker got away because his calls were intercepted but not translated.

In this Oct. 29, 2004 image from video, Osama bin Laden speaks in this image made from an undated video broadcast by Al-Jazeera television.
In this Oct. 29, 2004 image from video, Osama bin Laden speaks in this image made from an undated video broadcast by Al-Jazeera television.   (AP Photo/AlJazeera via APTN)
This is an image from video made available by IntelCenter, on Wednesday July 11, 2007, showing Ayman al-Zawahri, Osama bin Laden's deputy.
This is an image from video made available by IntelCenter, on Wednesday July 11, 2007, showing Ayman al-Zawahri, Osama bin Laden's deputy.   (AP Photo/via IntelCenter)
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I can't explain it. No. 1, Congress has been pestering them. No. 2, you would think it's important for them to do their job. - Peter Hoekstra, Senior Republican on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence

Anything that goes on in northern Iraq, where Kurdish is spoken, is really tough for us. It is almost impossible to do anything in a timely manner there. - a former intelligence official

In the entire FBI, at the GS-15 level and above, there were three fluent Arabic-speaking agents at the time of 9/11. Three in 15,000. The same thing for the CIA. - Stephen Kohn, lawyer representing FBI whistleblowers

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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 8 comments
cognitivefilter
Sep 1, 2009 12:10 PM CDT
i'm in! let me know what languages are needed and i'll go out and purchase a rosetta stone right away.
orchide87
Sep 1, 2009 7:07 AM CDT
Reader ur such an ignorant racist!!! if people don't speak english they're barbarians??? what closed-minded world do u live in? get out of ur little cocoon and look around you, THERE IS A WORLD OUTSIDE UR STUPID SURROUNDINGS!
JonmarkP
Aug 31, 2009 10:36 AM CDT
They don't need translators, they need interpreters. There's a world of difference, not that anyone at Newser would understand that.
Politics • US • World

 
Iraq • Afghanistan • national security • War on Terror • CIA • Pakistan • Pashtun • translation • Arabic • Urdu • intelligence agencies • Dari • translator

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