Spy Agency Wants to Raise Language Skills

[Francis M Hult]

>>From Reuters

Spy Agency Wants to Raise Language Skills
Tue Apr 27, 2004 06:21 PM ET

By Tabassum Zakaria
BALTIMORE (Reuters) - The National Security Agency, which eavesdrops on
global electronic communications, wants to do for American linguistics
what it did for mathematics -- raise the bar, Lt. Gen. Michael Hayden,
director of the U.S. spy agency, said on Tuesday.

Linguists are essential for the mission of the NSA, which scoops up
electronic communications from around the world and then decodes and
translates them.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the NSA and other intelligence
agencies have been scrambling to increase the number of employees with
skills in Arabic and Asian languages.

"We still face challenges in hiring linguists," Hayden told Reuters after
speaking to a local business group.

"I know we've got immigrant communities -- our word is heritage, heritage
communities -- on which we can rely, but it's a careful balance of the
linguistic skills and the security requirements that make it very
challenging for us."

See the full article here:
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=4961166&section=news