mr. speaker , i insert in the record at this point two articles .  one is an editorial from the new york times entitled , `` the price of homophobia. '' another is an associate press story entitled , `` report : number of gay linguists discharged higher than thought. '' the price of homophobia do n't ask , do n't tell -- just scream in frustration : it turns out that 20 of the arabic speakers so vitally needed by the nation have been thrown out of the military since 1998 because they were found to be gay .  it is hard to imagine a more wrongheaded rebuff of national priorities .  the focus must be on the search for osama bin laden and his terrorist legions , not the closet door .  the pentagon 's snooping after potential gays trumps what every investigative agency in the war on terror has admitted is a crucial shortage of effective arabic translators .  after the first world trade center attack , in 1993 , government agents revealed an alarming shortage of arabic speakers .  key notes , videotapes and a phone call pertaining to the attack were later found in a backlog of untranslated investigative data .  the shortage continued right up to and well beyond the 9/11 attacks .  three years after the towers were destroyed , the f.b.i. , rife with translation problems , admitted it had an untranslated backlog of 120 , 000 hours of intercepts with potential value about looming threats .  at the state department , a study showed that only one in five of the 279 arabic translators were fluent enough to handle the subtleties of the language , with its many regional dialects .  the military 's experience is no more encouraging , with intelligence results muddied at times by a rush , as one inquiry put it , to recruit arab convenience store owners and cabdrivers , who could n't handle the task .  the military is right to rely more on its language schools , but it can take several years to produce fluent graduates .  the folly of using `` do n't ask , do n't tell '' policy against such precious national resources amounts to comfort for the enemy .  when president bush was asked last week by the washington post why osama bin laden had eluded capture , he replied , `` because he 's hiding. '' so is the pentagon -- it 's hiding from reality .  report : number of gay linguists discharged higher than thought san francisco ( ap ) -- the number of arabic linguists discharged from the military for violating its `` do n't ask , do n't tell '' policy was nearly three times as high as previously reported , according to records obtained by an advocacy group .  between 1998 and 2004 , the military discharged 20 arabic and six farsi speakers , according to department of defense data obtained by the center for the study of sexual minorities in the military under a freedom of information act request .  the military previously confirmed that seven translators who specialized in arabic had been discharged because they were gay .  the updated numbers were first reported by the new republic magazine .  aaron belkin , the center 's director , said he wants the public to see the real costs of `` do n't ask , do n't tell. '' `` we had a language problem after 9/11 and we still have a language problem , '' belkin said wednesday .  the military 's `` do n't ask , do n't tell '' policy allows gays and lesbians to serve in the military as long as they keep their sexual orientation private and do not engage in homosexual acts .  but belkin and other advocates say such a policy endangers national security at a time u.s. intelligence agencies and the military say they do n't have enough arabic speakers .  `` the military is placing homophobia ahead of national security , '' said steve ralls , spokesman for the servicemembers legal defense network , a nonprofit group which advocates for the rights of gay military members .  `` it 's appalling that in the weeks leading up to 9/11 messages were coming in waiting to be translated ... ..  and at the same time they were firing people who could 've done that job. '' but others , like elaine donnelly of the center for military readiness , a conservative advocacy group that opposes gays serving in the military , said the discharged linguists never should have been accepted at the elite defense language institute in monterey in the first place .  `` resources unfortunately were used to train young people who were not eligible to be in the military , '' she said .  `` we need to recruit people who are eligible to serve. '' in the fiscal year ended oct .  31 , 2004 , 543 arabic linguists and 166 farsi linguists graduated from their 63-week courses , according to a dli spokesman .  that was up from 377 and 139 , respectively , in the previous year , reflecting the military 's increased need for translators in iraq .  experts have identified the shortage of arabic linguists as contributing to the government 's failure to predict the sept .  11 attacks .  the independent sept .  11 commission made similar conclusions .  the government `` lacked sufficient translators proficient in arabic and other key languages '' to adequately prepare itself against future strikes , the report said .  `` it used to be this was seen as a gay rights issue , but now it 's clearly a national security issue , '' said nathaniel frank , a senior research fellow at the center for study of sexual minorities in the military at the university of california , santa barbara .  ian finkenbinder , a u.s. army arabic linguist who graduated from the defense language institute in 2002 , was discharged from the military last month after announcing to his superiors that he 's gay .  finkenbinder , who said his close friends in the army already knew he was gay , served eight months in iraq and was about to return for a second tour when he made the revelation official .  `` i looked at myself and said , `are you willing to go to war with an institution that wo n't recognize that you have the right to live as you want to , ' `` said finkenbinder , 22 , who now lives in baltimore , md .  `` it just got to be tiresome to deal with that -- to constantly have such a significant part of your life under scrutiny. '' finkenbinder said his commander was upset to let him go because his arabic proficiency was at the highest possible for a nonnative speaker .  the servicemembers legal defense network last month sued the government on behalf of 12 gay former military members seeking reinstatement .  they 're seeking to overturn `` do n't ask , do n't tell '' alleging it violates their constitutional rights .  