Pentagon To Establish "Language Corp"

Pentagon To Establish 'Language Corps' With Focus On Arabic, Farsi, Chinese

Tuesday, May 22, 2007
WorldTribune

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration is making language skills priority in military planning.

The Defense Department plans to establish a so-called Language Corps to enhance skills in Arabic, Chinese and other languages required for counter-insurgency efforts. Under a three-year pilot program, the Pentagon would groom about 1,000 foreign-language speakers to help the government during war and national emergencies.

Officials said the Pentagon would first recruit and test volunteers to determine the requirements of the corps. In the second stage, a permanent body could be established with access to people who could be summoned to use their skills in times of emergency.

"The federal government can't possibly identify, hire and warehouse professionals with skills in 150 languages," Robert Slater, head of the Pentagon personnel office's security education program, said. "So it's invaluable to be able to respond in emergencies, whether international or national."

Government-commissioned studies have urged the Defense and State departments to improve skills in such languages as Arabic, Farsi and Pashto. These languages have been deemed critical to national security. Officials said that at this point the Pentagon has not selected languages in the pilot program.

On May 8, the Pentagon awarded four grants totaling $2 million to four U.S. universities to teach foreign languages to cadets and midshipmen. The languages included Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, Hindi, Pashto and Russian.

"The department's goal is to expose cadets and midshipmen to the study of languages and cultures of the world critical to national security," Defense Undersecretary David Chu said.