View Full Version : Another spying scandal at Gitmo
"Another spying scandal at Gitmo"
"A number of Arabic and Pashtu interpreters at the terror-war detention center at Guantanamo Bay are under active investigation for omitting valuable intelligence from their translations of detainee interrogations, among other security breaches. This could taint some of the evidence at the "9/11 trial" in New York and proceedings against other detainees.
Remarkably, the Pentagon never cleaned up the "mole infestation" at its highest-security facility after the FBI busted a Muslim spy ring at Gitmo in 2003......"
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/another_spying_scandal_at_gitmo_I7hKkTOEivnunImP6Q Y4gI#ixzz0YR7kqES6
Stealthed
12-01-2009, 06:16
I really have no words for this... well maybe a couple.
Is this why Eric Holder decided to hold the 9/11 trial in civilian court?
When will we learn? Our weakest area is the language barrier. We have to recruit and depend on the Terps and unfortunately they may start to have empathy for the detainees we have and be more liable to start tainting the info because of cultural and religious lines as we see they have.
This is a hard nut to crack...... Guess we should have had Terps checking Terps to cross ref the info. Make sure one is from another tribal group so they would not be buds..... I just do not see this being fixed easly..... No matter how many of us that go to DLI we will never produce enough to deal with this problem.....:confused:
BigJimCalhoun
12-01-2009, 07:18
I really have no words for this... well maybe a couple.
Is this why Eric Holder decided to hold the 9/11 trial in civilian court?
Some speculate that it is to embarass the Bush administration publicly.
The Reaper
12-01-2009, 10:54
Sounds like a really good reason NOT to recruit people based primarily on their linguistic skills.
Oh wait, we already decided to go ahead with that plan....:rolleyes:
Nevermind.
TR
Warrior-Mentor
12-01-2009, 13:42
Sounds like a really good reason NOT to recruit people based primarily on their linguistic skills.
Oh wait, we already decided to go ahead with that plan....:rolleyes:
Nevermind.
TR
You can recruit based on linguistic skills, just not religion.
There's more than just Muslims who speak fluent Arabic...
FWIW - interpreters have always been an issue - loyalty, fluency, regional dialects, gender, sub-regional ethnicity and religious beliefs are things you must always consider when recruiting, training, and employing FNs. Based on my experiences, some things - like this topic - really don't change much.
Hell - I still struggle with interpreting half of what my wife is 'really' saying on a good day when I'm trying to listen. :rolleyes:
And so it goes...;)
Richard's $.02 :munchin
greenberetTFS
12-01-2009, 17:59
Hell - I still struggle with interpreting half of what my wife is 'really' saying on a good day when I'm trying to listen.
Well Richard,I couldn't agree with you more..................:D:D:D
Big Teddy :munchin
"Another spying scandal at Gitmo"
Remarkably, the Pentagon never cleaned up the "mole infestation" at its highest-security facility after the FBI busted a Muslim spy ring at Gitmo in 2003......"
On the flip side...
Do you think they may have allowed the MOLE interp's to continue in place to get the detainees to spill their brains? to the interp's? thinking they were safe??
:confused::confused:
From Pete's link:
"Also in question is just how far the enemy has penetrated our critical foreign-language program -- not just at Gitmo, but across the entire national security and intelligence complex. Many Arabic linguists are contractors who rotate in and out of the federal security agencies leading the War on Terror.
To prevent future betrayal, the government must reevaluate its security-clearance and hiring procedures for contract and military linguists. Post-hiring, it must institute periodic security interviews, polygraph exams and database-access audits for each translator."
IMO, the security issue is the key here. I fully agree that the polygraph is just a tool and CAN be manipulated but it's at least a start. Trust but verify.
Guess we should have had Terps checking Terps to cross ref the info.
Absolutely! Everything should be QC'd for accuracy and completeness. I'm actually surprised it hasn't been.