how safe do you feel?

[sisyphusshrugged]

We're erasing al Qaeda intercepts unheard for lack of disk space and not translating the ones we keep. Feel better?

The FBI does not have enough translators to handle a growing backlog of documents and intercepts in Arabic, Farsi, Urdu and Pashto, a federal audit said on Monday, confirming criticism by U.S. elected officials and experts.

An unclassified summary of a July 2004 report by the U.S. Justice Department's inspector general said while the FBI has increased the number of translators of languages used in the Middle East, Pakistan and Afghanistan, it still cannot keep up with the backlog of material flowing into the system.

The report was the first audit of the FBI's translating capabilities since the Sept. 11 attacks highlighted a gaping hole in the FBI's ability to translate and interpret foreign intercepts and documents.

"Despite the infusion of more than 620 additional linguists since Sept. 11, 2001, the FBI reported that nearly 24 percent of ongoing FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) counterintelligence and counterterrorism intercepts are not being monitored," the report said, referring to court-authorized eavesdropping by the U.S. government.

According to the report, the FBI's electronic surveillance intercepts in Arabic, Farsi, Urdu and Pashto -- languages used in the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan -- has increased by 45 percent from 2001 to 2003.

Translation growth rates in those languages are expected to increase by at least 15 percent a year.

Former FBI director Louis Freeh said earlier this year that the bureau's counterterrorism effort before the Sept. 11 attacks was plagued by an inability to afford enough translators in languages like Arabic and Farsi.

In another problem cited in the audit, Inspector General Glenn Fine said the FBI's digital collection systems have limited storage capacity, causing surveillance to be deleted automatically before being reviewed.

The report said controls have not been properly set up to prevent critical audio material from being automatically deleted before being translated.

"The results of our tests showed that three of eight offices tested had al Qaeda sessions that potentially were deleted by the system before linguists had reviewed them," the report said.

Well, you know, we had the translators, but we weren't happy with their choice of consenting adults outside the office. I'm sure that was worth whatever lives it costs.

Comments

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

There are lots of flaws in the way the DoD deals with gays, but the last line isn't fair to the FBI, or the rest of the (civilian) intel community.

Lord knows I think the FBI, et al., have problems, but the truth of the matter is the military linguists who were kicked out, wouldn't have been listening to this stuff anyway.

In fact, given how close some were to graduating, it's possible that some of those 620 linguists might be people who were kicked out, because they didn't get bad conduct discharges, they probably got administrative separations, and even if they did, sexual orientation (well, not anymore, not really, not yet) isn't grounds for non-hiring.

The real problem is the indiscriminate nature of the information collection, and the fact that most of it is dead within a couple of days of collection (at least at the tactical level) and that the listening skills are the hardest of the lot (save writing, but that's non-applicable) to be good at.

TK

[jmhm.livejournal.com]

Hey, look, all I know is that the government had trained personnel available and they fired them and now there aren't enough trained personnel available. I see a connection there.

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

I'm not trying to start a fight, but this happens to be my line of work, and our opinions differ.

What you're doing is more akin to blaming Bell South for not having enough linemen; because of hurricanes, because Pacific Bell fired some.

The Gov't is a big thing, and there are lots of places where the left hand and the right hand not only don't know what the other is doing, but can't even touch, to see what they're holding.

Has this administration screwed the pooch? Oh yes. From before, to during, to how they managed Afghanistan to the misguided mess that was the idea behind Iraq, to keeping the travesty which is "Don't ask, Don't tell" (and the which hunts it inspires) to the appalling divisiveness it is engineering, and profitting from domestically.

I loathe them. But I don't think this is a fact we can really beat them up with; if for no other reason that what I've pointed out will be used to refute it, and that will distract from the real failures.

TK

[jmhm.livejournal.com]

Well, Bell South and Pacific Bell aren't owned by the same people.

[mrdankelly.livejournal.com]

What's the big deal? We have thousands of Middle-Eastern language speakers locked up right now. I bet they'd love to help out in-between pyramid stackings. And most of the ones imprisoned here have plenty of time on their hands, now that they don't have to see their lawyers, or any other outside people for that matter.

[misseli.livejournal.com]

limited storage capacity

To quote Eddie Izzard, "Qua?"

Brewster Kahle's little non-profit can afford enough servers to hold 1 Terabyte of data (and growing by the day). So what is limiting the FBI's capacity for digital storage?

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

Depends on what they are recording. It's possible for them to be getting a terrabyte a day, more actually....

TK