WASHINGTON -- "Orrin," the handwritten note reads, "I worry very much about all that goes untranslated."

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., recently scribbled the personal message at the bottom of a formal two-page letter to Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. In it, the ranking committee member requests hearings to investigate deficiencies in the FBI's foreign language department, where Middle Eastern linguists translate al-Qaida and other terrorist intercepts.

Backlogs of untranslated Arabic chatter by suspected terrorists are piling higher at the department, thanks to a post-9-11 increase in wiretaps and a still-chronic shortage of qualified translators, as WorldNetDaily first reported last August.

At the same time, the bureau's Middle Eastern languages program -- the key to intercepting the next al-Qaida plot -- has been plagued by charges of inaccurate translations and security breaches brought by several FBI linguists fluent in both Arabic and Farsi since 9-11. They've lodged complaints with the staffs of both Leahy and Sen. Charles Grassley, a Republican member of the Judiciary committee and long-time FBI watchdog.

"Surely issues that implicate the very essence of the FBI's counterterrorism and counterintelligence missions should take priority in our oversight responsibilities on the Senate Judiciary Committee," Leahy wrote Hatch.

"In my view," he added, "the committee has not fulfilled its oversight role on this critical issue."

His letter, a copy of which was obtained by WorldNetDaily (page 1, page 2), is dated March 2. Tracy Schmaler, a spokeswoman for the ranking member, says chairman Hatch has not responded to the hearing request.

One FBI whistleblower, who describes the translation problem as a "crisis," contends Hatch has a "laissez-faire attitude" regarding the issue, and would rather not deal with it.

A spokesman for the chairman, Margarita Tapia, did not return repeated phone calls for comment.

Separately, Leahy also wrote a three-page letter on the same day to Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller (page 1, page 2, page 3). In that letter, he asked Mueller for a full accounting of the bureau's backlog of untranslated electronic intercepts of suspected terrorist conversations.

"Please estimate the number of hours of talk by suspected terrorists that are going untranslated for more than 12 hours, for more than 48 hours, for more than one week and for more than one month," Leahy said.

Reportedly, Mueller, responding to recent criticism, has instated a "12-hour rule," whereby all terror-related intercepts must be translated within 12 hours.

FBI spokesman Ed Cogswell said he was not familiar with Leahy's data request, but would look into it. He did not get back by deadline.

Leahy, who authored a provision in the PATRIOT Act to speed up translator recruiting by the FBI, also asked Mueller to provide data on the number of Arabic translators the bureau has hired since 9-11. Last October, he noted Mueller announced the bureau was still short on translators.

Leahy says Mueller in his latest budget request seeks a $13 million boost in the FBI's foreign language program. The proposed increase will fund 86 new positions, including 43 "language specialists."

Hiring qualified linguists and swiftly clearing backlogs, which could hold clues to another 9-11-type attack, should be a top priority, he says.

"Nearly two years ago, I began asking questions in Judiciary committee hearings about the FBI's translation program. Most of these remain unanswered," Leahy complained in his letter to Mueller and Ashcroft.

"As a result," he went on, "members of our committee are no closer to determining the scope of the issue, including the pervasiveness and seriousness of FBI shortcomings in this area, or what the FBI intends to do to rectify personnel shortages, security issues, translation inaccuracies and other problems that have plagued the translator program for years."

Leahy and Grassley first became concerned about the language program in 2002 after a former FBI contract linguist came forward with shocking allegations about disloyalty and intentional mistranslations by fellow linguists. Other linguists have also stepped forward with complaints.

Sibel Dinez Edmonds, who speaks Farsi, Turkish and Azerbaijani, claims terrorist "investigations are being compromised," and has demanded an independent probe of the FBI's language department.

Leahy said in his letter that Edmonds' charges "appeared to implicate the integerity of national security information."

"We were alarmed when FBI officials confirmed a substantial part of these allegations," he said, "yet the officials appeared unconcerned about a potential national security breach, and claimed there were few, if any, problems in the FBI's translation program."

Edmonds, who Grassley calls "very credible," has also taken her case to the Justice Department's inspector general.

"If there were, and are, persons within the language department that either intentionally prevented translation because of their agendas, or persons who were, and are, not qualified to properly translate, it is likely that terrorist communications prior to 9-11 were missed; and it is likely that current and future terrorist communications will likewise be missed," Edmonds wrote Justice's Inspector General Glenn A. Fine in a Jan. 5 letter. "I have alleged, and the FBI has confirmed (to Senate investigators), that there are in fact such persons in the language department."

However, Fine still has not released the findings of his internal probe, even though Edmonds first filed her complaint with his office almost two years ago. Speaking for Fine, Justice official Carol Ochoa said the investigation is "still ongoing."

"We are working hard to complete it expeditiously," she said in a Jan. 6 letter to Edmonds.

Previous stories:

Backlog of untranslated Arabic swamps FBI

FBI mandates Muslim-sensitivity training for agents

FBI informant revealed 9-11 plot in April 2001

FBI whistleblower: Arab translators cheered 9-11

Jews need not apply to fight terror at FBI