Fergie's Tech Blog

Politics as Usual: Need for Linguists Stymied by Cold War Procedures

Rowan Scarborough writes in The Examiner:

Minoo Krauser, of Gaithersburg, has two cousins living in her native Iran, a faraway family link that could be preventing her from getting a job at America’s secretive intelligence agencies.

Krauser has applied online to three agencies, figuring her Farsi fluency is her ticket to join the war on terrorism, in which language skills are highly prized.

Mike McConnell, the nation’s top intelligence officer, said last month his agencies need more linguists but are stymied by Cold War rules. Agencies, he said, still discriminate against applicants who have family abroad.

This may be the reason Krauser has been rebuffed. She has yet to hear an answer, or even get an interview, after filling out applications for the FBI, CIA and the National Security Agency.

posted by Fergie @ 8/08/2007 06:33:00 PM