IN THE NEWS
From Poliblogger comes this jaw-dropping Washington Post story. Apparently, the FBI still hasn't recruited more Arabic speakers:
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.
As Poliblogger notes, what makes this story doubly infuriating is how it came to light. An Egyptian-born agent--one of the few who can speak Arabic, apparently--sued the FBI because he was cut out of terrorism-related cases. If he hadn't sued, it's not clear when someone might have noticed that the FBI is as about as proficient at monitoring or interviewing Arabic-speaking suspects as, oh, they were before the 9/11 attacks. Accountability, anyone?
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