FBI Lacks Translators For Terror Intelligence

AFP cites a Justice Department audit in a report that states the FBI currently does not have enough translators to review as much as one third of the foreign-language material it collects in counter-terrorism operations.

About one third of electronic documents and one quarter of audio files collected in anti-terror probes have not been translated and reviewed, said the report by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine, seen by AFP Tuesday.

“Not reviewing such material increases the risk that the FBI will not detect information in its possession that may be important to its counterterrorism and counterintelligence efforts,” it said.

According to Fine, Federal Bureau of Investigations agents translate and read all of the 4.8 million pages of text in foreign languages.

However, 14.2 million e-mail messages, or 31 percent of the total during the auditing period, have not been reviewed. Neither have 1.2 million hours of audio, or 25 percent of the 4.8 million hours collected.

Despite the demand for translators, the FBI has also seen the number of their linguists drop, going from 1,338 in March 2005 to 1,298 in September 2008.

“We found that the FBI failed to achieve its linguist hiring goals for critical languages,” the report read.

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White House to Keep Agencies Focus on Terrorism

The Obama administration is moving to solidify one of the most significant shifts of resources put into place under President George W. Bush: the transformation of the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation into agencies where the top priority is counterterrorism rather than conventional law enforcement.

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and other Justice Department officials have emphasized that they will not cut resources allocated to national security in the foreseeable future, and the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Robert S. Mueller III, told lawmakers on Wednesday that “we have no intention of retreating from preventing a terrorist attack on American soil as our No. 1 priority.”

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Holy Land Foundation Defendants Guilty On All Counts

After more than 15 years of investigation and two trials, the Holy Land Foundation and five of its former organizers were found guilty of illegally funneling more than $12 million to the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.

The verdicts by a Dallas federal jury are a significant victory for the Justice Department, which streamlined its case after a mistrial last year and worked hard to carefully educate jurors on the complex evidence presented in the massive case.

Guilty verdicts were read on 108 separate charges.

The verdicts are a major triumph for the outgoing administration of President George W. Bush, whose efforts at fighting terrorism financing have been troubled. Two other similar high-profile prosecutions targeting supporters of Palestinian militants have ended in acquittals, deadlocked juries or convictions on lesser charges.

“Today’s verdicts are important milestones in America’s efforts against financiers of terrorism,” Patrick Rowan, assistant attorney general for national security, said in a prepared statement.

“This prosecution demonstrates our resolve to ensure that humanitarian relief efforts are not used as a mechanism to disguise and enable support for terrorist groups.”

Peter Margulies, a Roger Williams University law professor who studies terrorism financing cases, said, “The government showed in a streamlined case that where special assistance to the families of terrorists is concerned, cash is the moral equivalent of a car bomb.”

The jury also said Holy Land should forfeit $12.4 million because of several money-laundering convictions in the case. Prosecutors said the government probably will end up with about $5 million in Holy Land money frozen by federal authorities in 2001.

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