Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Language Skills Are Still Needed In America's Intelligence Agencies

The CIA has run television ads geared toward recruiting from the Arab-American and Iranian-American communities

US Spy Agencies 'Struggle With Post-9/11 Languages' -- The Telegraph

Despite intense focus on Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Middle East in the last decade, U.S. spy agencies are still lacking in language skills needed to talk to locals, translate intercepted intelligence and analyze data, according to top intelligence officials.

The Sept. 11, 2001, attacks prompted a major push for foreign language skills to track militants and trends in parts of the world that were not a Cold War priority.

But intelligence agencies have had to face the reality that the languages they need cannot be taught quickly, the street slang U.S. operatives and analysts require is not easy, and security concerns make the clearance process lengthy.

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My Comment: We are actually better off than most countries .... but room for improvements should still be pursued.

1 comment:

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