FBI slow to translate counterterror tapes

WASHINGTON -- The FBI is falling further behind in translating intercepted communications from terrorist suspects, leading to a backlog of unreviewed tapes that has doubled in the past year to more than 8,000 hours, the Justice Department's inspector general disclosed yesterday.

The backlog has surged despite efforts by the FBI to hire more Arabic-language and other translators, because the bureau is collecting much more counterterrorism data than it used to, Inspector General Glenn Fine said. In some cases, the FBI is failing to translate highest-priority intercepts within 24 hours, despite a bureau policy mandating that deadline.

''The FBI's collection of audio material continues to outpace its ability to review and translate all that material," Fine told the Senate Judiciary Committee, warning that ''the FBI's ability to translate foreign-language materials is critical to national security."

Fine's findings followed a similar report in July 2004 that raised alarms about the growing backlog of untranslated counterterrorism audiotapes.

The FBI director, Robert Mueller, defended the bureau's record, saying the backlog numbers do not tell the whole story. The FBI ''has triaged and prioritized" the material it collects, he testified before the Judiciary Committee, adding that the ''highest-priority counterterrorism intelligence intercepts" are usually reviewed quickly.

Much of the backlog, Mueller said, is ''attributable to highly obscure languages and dialects that we are working hard to recruit translators to address." He added that the number of linguists in the bureau has increased by 69 percent since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, with the number of Arabic speakers more than tripling. But, he said, the need for extensive background checks has made it difficult to hire more people.

More than 50,000 people have applied to the FBI to be translators since 2001, Mueller said, but after its vetting process, the bureau hired only 2 percent of them. With three months to go in the fiscal year, the bureau is 44 percent short of its goal for hiring translators. Last year, it was able to hire only 62 percent of the target number of translators it had sought.

Fine also reported to the judiciary committee that the ability of FBI agents to share information with one another and outside law enforcement agencies continues to be hampered by the bureau's inadequate computer systems.

The 9/11 Commission said the FBI's shortcomings in sharing information had contributed to its inability to prevent the 2001 attacks. Agents in two cities had grown suspicious that Al Qaeda members were training at American flight schools, but their reports were swallowed up in the bureau's antiquated information system.

Following the 2001 attacks, Congress authorized the FBI to build a new computer system.

But after the FBI spent $170 million on it, the bureau announced that the program wasn't powerful enough to fulfill all its needs and that it would have to start over again.

Mueller said the new program would not be complete until 2009; he declined to release a cost estimate because the program's administrators are still accepting bids.

Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the ranking Democrat on the committee, chastised Mueller: ''Not only are we out well over a hundred million dollars, but we're out several years of time -- precious time that was lost when we should be fighting terrorism."

Mueller also renewed his case for Congress to grant FBI counterterrorism agents the power to subpoena customer records from hotels, libraries, and telecommunications companies without asking a judge for permission.

Congress is considering several bills that would reauthorize the USA Patriot Act, the law that gave the FBI greater power to investigate terrorism suspects. Some versions would grant the FBI the power to obtain customer records without procuring a warrant.

Mueller said that agents working on other kinds of cases, such as drug and child pornography investigations, already have that power, so terrorism investigators should have it as well.

The FBI has resisted calls that its agents be required to certify that they would use the enhanced powers only in emergencies.

Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, noted that counterterrorism monitoring is different from ordinary criminal inquiries because it is less likely to lead to prosecutions. Thus, she said, the need for safeguards of individual rights is greater.

''The targets essentially never know that the government is gathering information against them, and this can go on for years," she said. ''All I'm asking for is certification of emergency. . . . See, the resistance to this makes me suspicious."

But Senator Jeff Sessions, Republican of Alabama, said he could see no problem with FBI agents being able to seize whatever business records they wanted, because customers have a lower expectation of privacy when they give information to a business such as a hotel.

''In the past, motel records, even telephone records, were turned over by these entities whenever you asked for them. In the old days, when 'Dragnet' and Jack Webb and all were investigating crimes, they'd just go down to the motel and the guy would give it to them," Sessions said, referring to a 1960s television show.