Decoding the language of terrorism

National Guard, Feb 2002 by Lashinsky, Nick

Utah linguists fight with words

Like other states with Guardsmen called to duty since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Utah National Guard has been out in full force-providing security at airports, helping protect landmarks, bridges, buildings and, not to mention, the Winter Olympics. But the Utah Guard has also brought a unique brand of experts to the table to help in the war against terrorism.

Linguists.

The men and women who comprise the 300th Military Intelligence Brigade (Linguist) at their Utah headquarters thousands of miles away from the theater of operations, and also much closer to the action.

Utah may seem like a strange place for the Guard to house a stable of linguists, but it makes perfect sense considering the unit's history.

Beginning in 1960, the unit attracted people with language skills acquired while serving as missionaries for the Morman Church. It initially began as a single company focused solely on Western Europe and port security.

But as the military's requirements changed from needing a unit missioned to handle force protection from the Soviet threat to dealing with emerging concerns, the unit's language bank changed from Western European languages to the "big three"-Korean, Arabic and Persian Farsi.

"The government has re-prioritized the languages according to military threat down from 23 languages to 19, so the majority of our soldiers are fluent in the big three as well as: Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Hindi, Dam, Italian, Spanish, French, German, Vietnamese and Cambodian, among others," said Maj. Angie Abram, a brigade intelligence officer.

Although many of the unit's members today are former missionaries, it is beginning to move away from that heritage.

"We're starting to see more second generation immigrants who are native speakers come into the unit. The move towards needing more Islamic and Arabic speakers has dictated that," Abram said.

And more frequently today, linguists are coming from the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, Calif. The majority of the nearly 1,800 unit soldiers have prior language experience and 75 percent meet the stringent Army language qualifications.

Students from the prestigious school are immersed into a language from 23-to63 weeks, depending on the difficulty.

The men and women of the 300th are drawing on their past training to tackle the tough mission they've been handed.

The government handpicked them because they are considered some of the best linguists in the world and also because their members are fluent in roughly two-dozen languages.

Hunkered down in a remote part of Utah, part of this cache of linguists has been charged with translating documents and recordings that are part of the Sept. 11 investigation by the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Security Agency.

"We've got tremendous language capabilities in this unit," said Col. Mark Ainscough, the brigade's commander. "The war on terrorism has just begun. So far, there's been a minimal mobilization, but there is the feasibility of more. I've told our soldiers to be prepared for other mobilizations down the road."

In the immediate wake of Sept. 11, the 300th provided Arabic linguists to support the FBI in its investigation of the attacks. The brigade has also had Arabic and Russian speaking troops deployed to the "area of operations"-somewhere in the Afghanistan region-in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. They have been doing language translation that includes talking to the local populace and performing interrogations when necessary.

Those who were activated, but stayed in the United States have been working not only in their home state, but also with Regional Support Operations Centers, an offshoot of the National Security Agency in Texas, Georgia and Pacific states. The majority of their work is classified.

"As is the case with a lot of our soldiers, we're not sure exactly what their utilization has been," Ainscough said. "They become removed from us once they join with another unit-their day-to-day activities are consumed by working for the host unit."

Although their headquarters and highest concentration of soldiers is in Utah, the 300th is made up of five other battalions that are spread throughout the country. Illinois, Washington, Louisiana, California and Florida each house a battalion and Massachusetts is home to a company of linguists.

"Foreign language skills are always in high demand-especially in wartime situations and especially now," said Maj. Gen. Brian Tarbet, Utah's adjutant general and the 300th's former brigade commander. The 300th is a nationwide outfit, so we can demographically provide linguists where needed."

The unit has a two-pronged mission: intelligence gathering and linguist functions. They require soldiers to train in four disciplines including: human intelligence, interrogation, counter-intelligence and language. They also deal in signals intelligence and cryptoanalysis, although those are considered separate from the other disciplines.