It was just a few days ago that the Justice Department’s Inspector General Glenn Fine issued a scathing report about how the Federal Bureau of Investigation was behind in its efforts to translate foreign language documents and audio recordings in terrorism and criminal investigations.

And now a day later, it became public that an ongoing investigation apparently has been impacted by those troubles — U.S. authorities arrested the two Chicago area men earlier this month and unsealed the complaints against them on Tuesday that detailed how they communicated over email and by telephone to develop the plot.

In those documents, an FBI agent acknowledged that the translations from Urdu to English had not yet been finalized (and some of them dated back to late 2008).

This is why it’s imperative for governments and authorities to choose wisely on translating companies they sign. Small independent translators and translating agencies are only good in mainstream languages. Who said translations are not a matter of life and death?

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