Pentagon to establish 'language corps' with focus on Arabic, Farsi, Chinese
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.
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"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.
