Dated by 18 months, but still a good overview.
Cash! Bonuses! for Speaking Dhivehi
Who exactly is spying on who, and for what?
The latest Wikileaks peak into STRATFOR Emails is being described as a unique insight into some shadow CIA, while meanwhile some are worried that the Department of Homeland Security is monitoring social media and conducting surveillance of OWS activists. There is a little bit of truth in both stories, but it is such small potatoes.
The big daddy of spying is NSA’s eavesdropping apparatus, and it’s barely able to keep up. It can’t process and translate all of the material it vacuums up from radio and telephone communications, cell phones, email, texts, chats, faxes, and websites belonging to the bad guys. And the rest of the intelligence community is practically deaf in one ear unable to understand the languages of those who are considered the enemy — let alone the languages of our “friends.”
Into the breach marches an army of private contractors, who do a brisk business and are engaged in a death struggle with each other to find people who can speak obscure languages AND at the same time qualify for Top Secret clearances.
Arabic and the languages of Afghanistan and Pakistan (Dari, Pashtu, Urdu) are the priorities, but Farsi speakers, the language mostly of Iran, are in high demand these days. As are African languages, because, well, we have a new African Command that is creating its own empire.
I compiled a list of the languages in demand right now, the companies who are looking for Top Secret cleared applicants, and some of the locations where the spying and analysis is done.
Hebrew anyone? Only one country speaks that language. Dhivehi? That’s the language of the Maldives.
Below is a table of languages desperately sought by private contractors on behalf of the US Intelligence Community:
| Language | Company | Location |
| Amharic | STG | Overseas |
| Arabic (Gulf, Egyptian, Iraqi, Levantine, Libyan, Moroccan/Tunisian, MSA, and Yemeni dialects) | Acclaim Technical Services, AllWorld Language Consultants, Archimedes Global, CACI, Camber, Chenega; Ed Wallach Search Group, General Dynamics Information Technology, iNTELLITREX, L-3, LG-TEK, ManTech, Navanti Group, Northrop Grumman, PARSONS/McMunn Associates (MAI), ProSol Associates, Quick Services LLC, Raytheon, SAIC, STG, TASC, VOR Technology | Ft. Gordon GA; Ft. Meade MD; Suitland MD; Ft. Belvoir, VA; Herndon VA; McLean VA; Quantico VA; Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Germany (AFRICOM); RAF Molesworth UK |
| Armenian | Pluribus International | |
| Azeri | STG | Overseas |
| Baluchi | Boeing, ProSol Associates, TASC | Ft. Meade MD |
| Bosnian | Ed Wallach Search Group | |
| Chinese | AllWorld Language Consultants, Booz Allen Hamilton, General Dynamics, LG-TEK, ManTech, PARSONS/McMunn Associates (MAI), Pluribus International, STG | Monterey CA; Hawaii; Ft. Meade MD; Suitland MD; Wright-Patterson AFB OH; Herndon VA; Overseas |
| Dari | AllWorld Language Consultants, Boeing, Ed Wallach Search Group, ManTech, Navanti Group, Pluribus International, ProSol Associates, SAIC, STG, TASC | Ft. Meade MD; Ft. Belvoir VA; Herndon VA; Quantico VA; Overseas |
| Dhivehi | Acclaim Technical Services | Northern VA |
| Farsi (Persian) | Acclaim Technical Services, AllWorld Language Consultants, Booz Allen Hamilton, CACI, Chenega, Epsilon, Inc., General Dynamics Information Technology, Global Linguist Solutions, iNTELLITREX, L-3, ManTech, LG-TEK, Navanti Group, Northrop-Grumman; PARSONS/McMunn Associates, Inc. (MAI), Pluribus International, ProSol Associates, Quick Services LLC, SAIC, Six3 Intelligence Solutions, STG, TASC | Ft. Gordon GA; Ft. Meade MD; Suitland MD; Ft. Hood TX; San Antonio TX; Ft. Belvoir VA; Herndon VA; McLean VA; Quantico, VA; Reston VA; Overseas |
| French | Archimedes Global, Chenega; CSC, General Dynamics Information Technology, L-3, ManTech, Pluribus International, Quick Services LLC, Raytheon | Herndon VA; Djibouti; Germany (AFRICOM); RAF Molesworth UK |
| Georgian | KEYW, TASC | Ft. Meade MD |
| Haitian-Creole | Boeing, TASC | Ft. Meade MD |
| Hausa | AllWorld Language Consultants; Archimedes Global | Germany (AFRICOM) |
| Hebrew | AllWorld Language Consultants, CACI, Pluribus International, Professional Solutions | Ft. Meade MD; Overseas |
| Hindi | ProSol Associates, SAIC, TASC | Ft. Meade MD; McLean VA |
| Hungarian | ProSol Associates | |
| Igbo | AllWorld Language Consultants | |
| Indonesian (Bahasa Melayu) | Chenega; Dynamics Information, Technology, ManTech, ProSol Associates | Herndon VA; Guantanamo Bay, Cuba |
| Japanese | AllWorld Language Consultants | |
| Kazakh | Boeing, TASC | Ft. Meade MD |
| Korean | AllWorld Language Consultants, General Dynamics, L-3, ManTech, PARSONS/McMunn Associates (MAI), Pluribus International, ProSol Associates, SAIC, STG | Monterey CA; Ft. Meade MD; Suitland MD; Herndon VA; Reston VA; Northern VA; Overseas |
| Kurdish | Acclaim Technical Services, General Dynamics, ManTech, Pluribus International, STG | Ft. Hood TX; Herndon VA; Overseas |
| Malay | ProSol Associates | |
| Pashto | Acclaim Technical Services; AllWorld Language Consultants, Camber, General Dynamics Information Technology, iNTELLITREX, L-3, LG-TEK, ManTech, Pluribus International, ProSol Associates, SAIC, STG, TASC | MacDill AFB FL; Ft. Gordon GA; Ft. Meade MD; Herndon VA; McLean VA; Northern VA; Guantanamo Bay, Cuba |
| Polish | ProSol Associates | |
| Portuguese | Archimedes Global, Pluribus International,TASC | Ft. Meade MD; Germany |
| Punjabi (Western) | Pluribus International, STG | |
| Russian | Acclaim Technical Services, AllWorld Language Consultants, General Dynamics Information Technology, ManTech, PARSONS/McMunn Associates (MAI), Pluribus International, STG | Ft. Meade MD; Suitland MD; Herndon VA; Northern VA; Overseas |
| Somali | Booz Allen Hamilton, CACI, Camber, Chenega, Ed Wallach Search Group, iNTELLITREX, KEYW, L-3, Linc Government Services, Navanti Group, STG, TASC | Ft. Gordon GA; Ft. Meade MD; Ft. Belvoir VA; McLean VA; Djibouti; Overseas |
| Spanish | Acclaim Technical Services; Boeing, CACI; L-3,ManTech, Pluribus International, SAIC, TASC | Ft. Gordon GA; Ft. Meade MD; El Paso, TX; Lackland AFB TX; Herndon VA; Northern VA |
| Swahili | Archimedes Global, CACI, Chenega; General Dynamics Information Technology, iNTELLITREX | Ft. Gordon GA; Ft. Meade MD; Germany (AFRICOM); Kenya |
| Tajik | AllWorld Language Consultants, Pluribus International, Quick Services LLC | Herndon VA |
| Turkish | AllWorld Language Consultants, Ed Wallach Search Group, ManTech, STG | Herndon VA; Overseas |
| Uighur/Uyghur | General Dynamics Information Technology, SAIC | Reston VA |
| Ukranian | AllWorld Language Consultants | |
| Urdu | Acclaim Technical Services; AllWorld Language Consultants, Ed Wallach Search Group, General Dynamics Information Technology, LG-TEK, ManTech, Navanti Group, Pluribus International, ProSol Associates, Quick Services LLC, STG, TASC | Monterey CA; Ft. Gordon GA; Ft. Stewart GA; Ft. Meade MD; Ft. Belvoir VA; Herndon VA; Northern VA; Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Overseas |
| Uzbek | General Dynamics Information Technology | |
| Waziri | ProSol Associates | |
| Yoruba | AllWorld Language Consultants |
Phi Beta Iota: We have a particular regard for AllWorld. The problem is not language qualifications so much as the demand by the US IC that all its translators have top secret and often sensitive compartmented clearances. The security tail wags the language dog.
