THE DAILY BLADE: FBI Has Few Arabic-Speaking Agents Who Can Handle Intelligence Gathering, Analysis
On the heels of a damning Justice Department investigative report (second item) that found terrorists in custody in US prisons are easily able to send messages to sympathizers overseas – in part because the FBI "failed to gather intelligence on incarcerated terrorists even when there was evidence that they remained active through outside associates" - The Washington Post reveals:
Five years after Arab terrorists attacked the United States, only 33 FBI agents have even a limited proficiency in Arabic, and none of them work in the sections of the bureau that coordinate investigations of international terrorism, according to new FBI statistics.
Counting agents who know only a handful of Arabic words--including those who scored zero on a standard proficiency test--just 1 percent of the FBI's 12,000 agents have any familiarity with the language, the statistics show.
The numbers reflect the FBI's continued struggle to attract employees who speak Arabic, Urdu, Farsi and other languages of the Middle East and South Asia, even as the bureau leads a fight against terrorist groups primarily centered in those parts of the world. The same challenge is facing the CIA and other agencies as the government competes with the private sector for a limited number of applicants with foreign-language proficiency, according to U.S. officials and experts.
The shortage of agents with foreign-language skills also shows the extent to which the FBI has focused on translators since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, in part because officials believe it is more valuable to have specially trained linguists.
OpinionJournal’s James Taranto doesn’t see what the big deal is:
Hey, wait a second. Why should we care how many FBI agents speak Arabic? Arabic-language skills are good and well, but they won't do any good in catching a terrorist if that terrorist is a 70-year-old grandmother from Iowa. (Unless she speaks Arabic, of course.) Isn't the FBI just perpetuating the stereotype that terrorism is an "Arab" thing?
File This Under "Pee"
Oldsters have stopped volunteering to check out and shelve books at public libraries in Bronson, FL, because they resent having to comply with a mandatory urine drug test. One peeved volunteer doesn’t think testing "75-year-old grandmothers for marijuana" is a good use of taxpayer money and says the funds being spent on testing seniors should instead be used to buy additional books and computers.
Using Taranto’s reasoning, testing gramps and granny for drug use is a perfectly legitimate use of public funds, if you want to avoid stereotyping teens and 20-somethings as substance abusers.
Update
Castoff Wife Makes A Bundle On Castoff Jewelry
Ellen Barkin auctioned off more than 100 pieces of jewelry she amassed during her recently ended six-year marriage to Revlon billionaire Ron Perelman for $20,369,200, including commission. Her wedding band, which Christie's had estimated would fetch $50,000, went for $130,000. Two diamond rigs and a pair of diamond bangle bracelets each broke the $1 million mark. The Bronx-born actress is currently shooting Ocean's Thirteen with George Clooney and Brad Pitt.
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February 6, 2007
The Stiletto wrote:
By the second year of a President’s second term people always want change. After six years, there’s some reason to throw the bums out: an economy that’s lagging, a war that’s dragging, a scandal that’s revolting, a tax burden that’s jolting. Voters just wanted change, else they wouldn’t have handed control of Congress to a party that never articulated their plans on what they would do differently – what they would do, period – if they were in charge. Washington Post columnist Michael Kinsley, for one, was underwhelmed by the Dems' 31-page "A New Direction for America." ...
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