Patriot Watch links to this USA article about the FBI's increased need for translators in it's war against terror--and these two little paragraphs buried in the middle of the article:

The FBI also needs more translators to decipher evidence from an increasing number of secret wiretaps and other electronic surveillance that the agency is conducting on U.S. citizens and possible al-Qaeda sympathizers in this country. Timely translations can help agents ensure that a terror plot is not in the works.

A senior FBI official says that in the past year, a secret federal court has granted about 2,000 requests by government agents to conduct electronic eavesdropping. In fiscal 2002, the court approved 1,228 similar requests under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

The ACLU has learned lots more through a Freedom of Information Act Request to which a Judge ordered the Justice Department to respond.