National Desk

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun
NY Sun
NEW YORK SUN CONTRIBUTOR

WASHINGTON


JUSTICE AUDIT FINDS BACKLOG OF UNTRANSLATED INTERCEPTS


The FBI has a backlog of hundreds of thousands of hours of untranslated audio recordings from terror and espionage investigations, despite large increases in money and personnel for translations since the 2001 terror attacks, a Justice Department audit released yesterday said. In addition, the audit by Glenn Fine, the agency’s inspector general, found more than one-third of Al Qaeda intercepts authorized by a secret federal court were not reviewed within 12 hours of collection as required by the FBI director, Robert Mueller.


“Our audit highlighted the significant challenges facing the FBI to ensure that translation of key information is performed timely and accurately,” Mr. Fine said.


The audit was completed in July in classified form. The version released yesterday was edited to remove sections classified as “secret” by the FBI. Since September 11, 2001, more than 123,000 hours of audio in languages associated with terrorists still had not been reviewed as of April 2004, the audit found. In addition, more than 370,000 hours of audio associated with counterintelligence had not been reviewed. This backlog existed even though money for the FBI’s language services had increased from $21.5 million in fiscal 2001 to about $70 million in fiscal 2004.The number of linguists had risen from 883 to 1,214 over that period.


The FBI also is not meeting Mr. Mueller’s requirement that all Al Qaeda communications collected under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act be reviewed within 12 hours of interception.


– Associated Press


CAMPAIGNS FOCUS ON IRAQ IN ADS


President Bush claims John Kerry “doesn’t even know where he stands” on the war, while the Democrat accuses Mr. Bush of having “no plan what to do” in Iraq – dueling TV ads setting the stage for the candidates’ Thursday night debate over foreign policy.


“How can John Kerry protect us when he doesn’t even know where he stands?” a new Bush ad asks. Mr. Kerry’s campaign hits back with a spot that claims Mr. Bush has no plan for Iraq and inquires: “How can you solve a problem when you can’t see it?”


The candidates have vastly different arguments in trying to sway an electorate that polls show has grown increasingly concerned as the situation in Iraq has worsened and the White House race has focused on the issue. Voters in up to 16 states will see commercials on the issue this week. Meanwhile, Mr. Kerry defends himself in his own ad, saying he can bring “a new direction” to the American approach to Iraq.


[Separately, according to a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll, Mr. Bush leads Mr. Kerry by 8 points among likely voters, a smaller margin than in a poll taken in mid-September, according USA Today. Among all registered voters however, Mr. Bush’s lead widened to 11 percentage points.]


– Associated Press


BUSH ADMINISTRATION STEPS BACK FROM HOUSING PROPOSAL


The Bush administration backed away yesterday from a proposal that critics said would have forced many of the 2 million poor, elderly, or disabled families who use government housing vouchers to foot more of the rent on their own or find substandard apartments.


How much a Section 8 housing voucher is worth depends on the amount needed to pay for rent and utilities for a typical apartment. The figure fluctuates by city and depends on the Housing and Urban Development Department’s local “Fair Market Rent” calculations. HUD uses fair rents in many ways, although nearly all the criticism has involved its use with the $14.5 billion voucher program. Housing advocates and lawmakers from both parties had urged HUD to reconsider a proposal to adjust the rent formula that they said would have worsened conditions for many voucher holders. Yesterday, HUD officials said that fair rent revisions to take effect October 1 still would incorporate for the first time population and housing statistics from the 2000 census. But in a change, HUD said the new fair rents will not consider boundary line revisions for many metropolitan areas.


– Associated Press


SENATE DEMOCRATS CONCERNED ABOUT HOUSE’S INTELLIGENCE PLAN


Senate Democrats yesterday attacked the House Republican plan to address the September 11 commission’s recommendations, with one senator calling its proposal for a national intelligence director “too weak.”


House GOP leaders last week introduced legislation to create a director of national intelligence to coordinate the nation’s nonmilitary intelligence agencies, based partly on an earlier White House recommendation.


Senator Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut Democrat, said yesterday that the House idea for “the national intelligence director is, in my opinion, too weak.”


“It doesn’t give that position the strength it needs to really run our national intelligence community,” Mr. Lieberman said. The House speaker, Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican, said Friday that the new national intelligence director would have “full budget authority.” House Republicans said their work “represents the best thinking of those most knowledgeable about the intelligence community and the problems that beset it.”


– Associated Press


SOUTH


COURT REINSTATES TOUCHSCREEN VOTING LAWSUIT


TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Just five weeks before Election Day, a federal appeals court yesterday revived a lawsuit demanding that all Florida voters who use touch screen machines receive a paper receipt, in case a recount becomes necessary. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals told a federal judge in Fort Lauderdale to reopen the case, which could affect 15 Florida counties whose electronic voting terminals do not issue paper records. It was not immediately clear if the case could be decided before the November 2 presidential election. The three-judge panel in Atlanta wrote that Judge James Cohn misapplied a 35-year legal doctrine when he threw out the lawsuit filed by Representative Robert Wexler, a Florida Democrat.


“What’s known for certain is we have won the battle in the long term,” Mr. Wexler said. “There will be a paper trail in Florida. The only question is when.” A spokeswoman for the secretary of state, Glenda Hood, however, dismissed the decision as procedural. Mr. Wexler claims paperless ballots cannot be recounted as accurately as those cast on paper.


– Associated Press


EAST


ABUSE CHARGES AGAINST BISHOP DROPPED


SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Just hours after an indictment against a former Springfield bishop, Thomas Dupre, was unsealed yesterday accusing him of raping two boys in the 1970s, the county prosecutor refused to pursue the case because the statute of limitations has expired.


The decision by the Hampden district attorney, William Bennett, means that, though Mr. Dupre is the first Roman Catholic bishop to face criminal charges in the sex abuse scandal still plaguing the American church, he won’t go to trial for them. The grand jury returned indictments related only to child abuse, and not to other possible charges, such as witness tampering and obstruction of justice. Mr. Bennett said those other indictments were vital to the case. Without them, the prosecutor said he was precluded from pursuing the matter because the statute of limitations in force at the time of the alleged crimes was limited to six years.


Still, Mr. Dupre’s legal troubles are far from over. He faces lawsuits filed against him by his accusers, and Mr. Bennett said he plans to turn over the results of the grand jury investigation to authorities in New Hampshire, New York, and Canada, where some of the abuse allegedly took place.


– Associated Press

NY Sun
NEW YORK SUN CONTRIBUTOR

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.


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