[Mb-civic] FBI Faulted on Unreviewed Wiretap Recordings - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

<>FBI Faulted on Unreviewed Wiretap Recordings
Report Cites Doubling of Backlog, Which Chief Blames on Shortage of 
Translators

By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 28, 2005; Page A11

The FBI has failed to review more than 8,000 hours of audio wiretap 
recordings related to counterterrorism investigations, a backlog that 
has more than doubled in size since last year, according to a new report 
issued yesterday.

The audit by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine also 
found that although the FBI has made progress in improving its 
translation program, the bureau is still struggling to analyze 
recordings quickly enough and to hire and retain qualified translators.

"The success of the FBI's foreign language translation efforts is 
critical to its national security mission," the report said. It added 
that "key deficiencies remain, including a continuing amount of 
unreviewed material, instances where 'high priority' material has not 
been reviewed within 24 hours and continued challenges in meeting 
linguist hiring goals."

<>The new findings were released on the same day that FBI Director 
Robert S. Mueller III faced sharp questioning from members of the Senate 
Judiciary Committee, who complained at an oversight hearing that the FBI 
is not changing quickly enough to focus on terrorist threats and has 
bungled attempts to implement a $170 million computer upgrade.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/27/AR2005072702206.html 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.islandlists.com/pipermail/mb-civic/attachments/20050728/72b1d82b/attachment.htm