[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 116 (Thursday, July 31, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10598-S10599]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          INTELLIGENCE REPORT

  Mr. AKAKA. Mr. President, I rise today to commend the Senate Select 
Committee on Intelligence and the House Permanent Select Committee on 
Intelligence for their outstanding work in reviewing the intelligence 
community's activities related to the terrorist attacks on September 
11, 2001. The report, which was issued jointly last week by two 
committees, is the culmination of the hard work of the committees and 
their staff to inform the American people of the weaknesses in our 
intelligence community that need to be strengthened to prevent this 
type of event from occurring again.
  One issue that I find particularly interesting is the focus of the 
Intelligence Committees' report on how the lack of employees with 
foreign language skills hampered the intelligence community's efforts 
to meet its mission. Finding Six of the report states:

       Prior to September 11, the Intelligence Community was not 
     prepared to handle the challenge it faced in translating the 
     volumes of foreign language counterterrorism intelligence it 
     collected. Agencies within the Intelligence Community 
     experienced backlogs in material awaiting translation, a 
     shortage of language specialists and language-qualified field 
     officers, and a readiness level of only 30 percent in the 
     most critical terrorism-related languages used by terrorists.

  This finding is not surprising. Shortly after the terrorist attacks 
of September 11, 2001, FBI Director Robert Mueller made a public plea 
for speakers of Arabic and Farsi to help the FBI and national security 
agencies translate documents that were in U.S. possession but which 
were left untranslated due to a shortage of employees with proficiency 
in those languages. The committees' report states that prior to 
September 11, the Bureau's Arabic translators could not keep up with 
the workload. As a result, 35 percent of Arabic language materials 
derived from Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, FISA, collection 
was not reviewed or translated. If the number of Arabic speakers 
employed by the Bureau remained at the same level, the projected 
backlog would rise to 41 percent this year.
  Unfortunately, the U.S. faces a critical shortage of language 
proficient professionals throughout Federal agencies. As the General 
Accounting Office reports, Federal agencies have shortages in 
translators and interpreters and an overall shortfall in the language 
proficiency levels needed to carry out agency missions. Further, 
Director of the CIA Language School has testified before the 
Intelligence Committees that, given the CIA's language requirements, 
the CIA Directorate of Operations is not fully prepared to fight a 
world-wide war on terrorism and at the same time carry out its 
traditional agent recruitment and intelligence collection mission. The 
Director also added that there is no strategic plan in place with 
regard to linguistic skills at the Agency.
  The inability of law enforcement officers, intelligence officers, 
scientists, military personnel, and other Federal employees to decipher 
and interpret information from foreign sources, as well as interact 
with foreign nations, presents a threat to their mission and to the 
well-being of our Nation. It is crucial that we work to strengthen the 
language capabilities and in turn the security, of the United States. 
Both the GAO review and the Intelligence Committees' report demonstrate 
that action is needed to help Federal agencies more effectively recruit 
and retain highly skilled individuals for national security positions.
  Congress has long been aware of the Federal Government's lack of 
skilled personnel with language proficiency. In 1958, the National 
Defense Education Act, NDEA, was passed in response to the Soviet 
Union's first space launch. We were determined to win the space race 
and make certain that the United States never came up short again in 
the areas of math, science, technology, or foreign languages. The act 
provided loans and fellowships to students, and funds to universities 
to enhance their programs and purchase necessary equipment. After the 
NDEA expired in the early 1960s, Congress passed the National Security 
Education Act in 1991, which created the National Security Education 
program, NSEP. This program was intended to address the lack of 
language expertise in the Federal Government by providing limited 
undergraduate scholarships and graduate fellowships for students to 
study foreign language and foreign area studies, and providing funds to 
institutions of higher learning to develop faculty expertise in the 
less commonly taught languages. In turn, students who receive NSEP 
scholarships and fellowships are required to work for an office or 
agency of the Federal Government in national security affairs.
  While NSEP has been successful, it is obvious that more needs to be 
done. To address the Federal Government's lack of foreign language 
personnel, I introduced S. 589, the Homeland Security Federal Workforce 
Act, on March 11, 2003.

[[Page S10599]]

  I am pleased to have the support of Senators Durbin, Allen, 
Voinovich, Warner, Brownback, Chambliss, Rockefeller, and Collins in 
this effort. Our bipartisan bill would enhance the Federal Government's 
efforts to recruit and retain individuals possessing skills critical to 
preserving our national security. Through a targeted student loan 
repayment program and fellowships for graduate students, this 
legislation would help eliminate the Government's shortfall in science, 
mathematics, and foreign language skills.
  I am pleased to note that the Committee on Governmental Affairs 
favorably reported S. 589 in June. When this bill comes before the 
Senate for consideration, I urge swift passage so that Federal agencies 
with direct responsibility for protecting our homeland have personnel 
with foreign language and other necessary skills to deter and prevent 
another terrorist attack.

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