WASHINGTON, D.C.

Surveillance warrants overwhelming FBI

The number of secret surveillance warrants sought by the FBI has increased 85 percent in the past three years, a pace that has outstripped the Justice Department’s ability to quickly process them.

Even after warrants are approved, the FBI often does not have enough agents or other personnel with the expertise to conduct the surveillance. The FBI still is trying to build a cadre of translators who can understand conversations that are intercepted in such languages as Arabic, Pashto and Farsi.

These findings are among those of investigators for the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks, which has harshly criticized the intelligence-gathering efforts of the CIA and FBI.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Migrating songbirds can readjust if led astray

Like disoriented hikers, migrating songbirds went the wrong way when their inner compasses were disrupted. But the birds recovered, apparently using sunset clues to reorient themselves.

Martin Wikelski, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Princeton University, and colleagues studied thrushes, such as the Swainson’s thrush above, on their migration from South America to Canada. These birds fly at night, guided by their ability to sense the magnetic field of the earth to keep them flying in the right direction.

The researchers set up an artificial magnetic field — oriented differently from the earth’s magnetism — around birds in outdoor cages, according to Friday’s issue of the journal Science.

Most set off on their migratory trek, but headed west instead of north, flying several hundred miles in the wrong direction. The next day, however, they corrected themselves and went north again, Wikelski said. The birds somehow had reset their internal compass now that they no longer were in the artificial magnetic field.

Boston

University board votes to overhaul itself

Boston University’s trustees voted Thursday to overhaul the board in a move likely to weaken former President John Silber’s iron grip on the school he headed for most of the past three decades.

The overhaul includes term limits that would eventually remove many of Silber’s longtime allies, some of whom have served for decades.

Also, the board adopted a new conflict-of-interest policy in response to criticism of BU’s payment of $30 million last year to companies and nonprofit organizations in which university trustees were involved.

The board also named Alan Leventhal as chairman of the board. He replaces Christopher Barreca, who is stepping down for health reasons.