F.B.I. Is Slow to Translate Intelligence, Report Says

[maddezmom]

Source: NYT

F.B.I. Is Slow to Translate Intelligence, Report Says

Published: October 26, 2009
WASHINGTON — The F.B.I.’s collection of wiretapped phone calls and intercepted e-mail has been soaring in recent years, but the bureau is failing to review “significant amounts” of such material partly for lack of translators, according to a Justice Department report released Monday.

“Not reviewing such material increases the risk that the F.B.I. will not detect information in its possession that may be important to its counterterrorism and counterintelligence efforts,” said the report, which was issued by the office of the department’s inspector general, Glenn A. Fine.

In a statement, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said that it was working to reduce its backlog of unreviewed audio recordings and electronic documents, and that it continued seeking to hire or contract with more linguists.

“The F.B.I. remains committed to reviewing all foreign language material in a timely manner and setting priorities to ensure that the most important material receives the most immediate attention,” the agency said in a statement.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/27/us/27fbi.html

[thunder rising]

1. Is this our "Spy on Americans" program falling behind?

[AlexDeLarge]

2. Huh? Not unless you consider English a foreign language?

[thunder rising]

5. Last I heard English isn't the national language.

[Igel]

3. Of course.

I've looked at their requirements.

On paper they're stupid.

You can speak, read, write, and understand (when heard) a language. These skills don't all have to be present. In fact, most translators actually read their foreign language better than interpreters do. Moreover, there are working interpreters who should never, ever interpret into what AAIC called a C language--good enough to work out of, but not into.

I can read one foreign language very well, understand it tolerably well, write it poorly, and speak it barely. I can read a second one tolerably well, understand it poorly, write it marginally well, and speak it barely acceptably. I can read a third one tolerably well, can't understand, write, or speak it worth squat. Same for foreign languages 4 and 5. Give me 6 months to a year and I could probably add any of nearly a dozen languages to "reading competency" status.

By that measure I'm more likely to be hired to do written translations of my second foreign language. Meanwhile, my first foreign language, which I've professionally translated for nearly a decade, isn't useful to them. I've also translated from my 3rd and 4th languages for pay and without a problem.

Now, competency in production is harder to acquire. You typically need to be in a community speaking that language for a couple of years to achieve it. The problem with high-demand languages is that by living abroad for a couple of years you tend to have a lot of problems passing your background check. So there's a lot of demand for such people.

Wasting their abilities by having them do written translations is a major snafu. Those with rarer skills should be using them where they can't be replaced, while those with more common skills--near-native reading fluency--can be used for tasks they're suitable for. However this means the FBI doesn't have enough flexibility--they need to keep straight the abilities of each of their employees. Apparently this is beyond them. Granted, an Excel file would suffice, but this is the FBI, the people supposedly keeping us safe.

Now, it may be that they really don't mean the requirements that they claim they require. In which case they're still stupid.

[optimator]

4. how about not spying on phone calls and email

you know that pesky 4th Amendment, you fucking scum bag pieces of shit FBI shit heads?