F.B.I. still messes it up and might lead us to another 9/11

[Klaus]

NYTimes

WASHINGTON, Sept. 27 - Three years after the Sept. 11 attacks, more than 120,000 hours of potentially valuable terrorism-related recordings have not yet been translated by linguists at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and computer problems may have led the bureau to systematically erase some Qaeda recordings, according to a declassified summary of a Justice Department investigation that was released on Monday.

The report, released in edited form by Glenn A. Fine, the department's inspector general, found that the F.B.I. still lacked the capacity to translate all the terrorism-related material from wiretaps and other intelligence sources and that the influx of new material has outpaced the bureau's resources.

Overhauling the government's translation capabilities has been a top priority for the Bush administration in its campaign against terrorism. Qaeda messages, saying "Tomorrow is zero hour" and "The match is about to begin," were intercepted by the National Security Agency on Sept. 10, 2001, but not translated until days later, underscoring the urgency of the problem.

More than 3 years after 9/11 the main key in defending against terrorism is still not working properly

 

[nbcrusader]

We will always be able to find imperfections in our national security operations.

I think there are some who find these flaws acceptable. The alternative, a "perfect" security system, is scary to them.

 

[Klaus]

Sure our security will stay imperfect but - as you can read on the quote - our system isn't only imperfect we are unable to analyze the data we have.
We should focus on efficency here before we continue to violate the privacy of our citizens

 

[A_Wanderer]

The FBI uses Arab translaters pretty much exclusively. There was a very interesting report about the fact that after 9.11 some in the translation office were celebrating! In the interests of maintaining an "equal and fair" working environment they will not hire any Jews that know how to speak Arabic or Farsi. It is a really FUBAR situation of workplace fuckups and political correctness.

 

[Klaus]

More than 3 years since that hapened - that's more than enough to teach American FBI members a language.
So, to me it looks like they neglegted this essential key in the war on terror but the focus was on other things (Patriot Act II, Iraq etc)

 

[A_Wanderer]

These are all different beurocracies, flaws in the FBI are because of the FBI, the blame doesnt really lead to the White House.

 

[Klaus]

Well who do you think has the power to change these different beurocracies? Isn't it the presidents responsibility to create an efficient environment for terror-defense?
Why was it necessary to create laws like Patriot Act and why dosn't the government - after all these years finally take a look why the FBI could have known what hapened but wasn't able to report that danger?

 

[odowdpa]

This is ridiculous. "may have led" it says. Just more b.s. to try and get anti-Bush feelings out there. They are not sure if this is true. Plus its the ultra-liberal leaning NY Times writing this.

 

[ThatGuy]

The same "ultra-liberal" Ny Times that published several articles bolstering the Bush's administrations claims of the necessity of the war on Iraq? Claims that were found out later to be dubious in origin? THAT "ultra-liberal" NY Times?