Interpreters provide vital local knowledge, as well as language skills.Photo from The BBC
From The Washington Times:
U.S. national security agencies remain woefully short of foreign-language speakers and translators nearly eight years after the Sept. 11 attacks resulted in a war on an enemy that often communicates in relatively obscure dialects, current and former officials say.
The necessary cadre of U.S. intelligence personnel capable of reading and speaking targeted regional languages such as Pashto, Dari and Urdu "remains essentially nonexistent," the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence wrote in a rare but stark warning in its 2010 budget report.
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My Comment: In the past few years the U.S. military has been boasting about providing cultural awareness programs to its troops. I have no problem with such a program ... in fact I support it .... but it is all for nothing if the language barrier cannot be breached.