[Senate Hearing 112-663]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 112-663
A NATIONAL SECURITY CRISIS: FOREIGN
LANGUAGE CAPABILITIES IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
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HEARING
before the
OVERSIGHT OF GOVERNMENT MANAGEMENT,
THE FEDERAL WORKFORCE, AND THE
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA SUBCOMMITTEE
of the
COMMITTEE ON
HOMELAND SECURITY AND
GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
MAY 21, 2012
__________
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.fdsys.gov
Printed for the use of the Committee on Homeland Security
and Governmental Affairs
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75-214 WASHINGTON : 2012
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COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut, Chairman
CARL LEVIN, Michigan SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine
DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii TOM COBURN, Oklahoma
THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware SCOTT P. BROWN, Massachusetts
MARK L. PRYOR, Arkansas JOHN McCAIN, Arizona
MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin
CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri ROB PORTMAN, Ohio
JON TESTER, Montana RAND PAUL, Kentucky
MARK BEGICH, Alaska JERRY MORAN, Kansas
Michael L. Alexander, Staff Director
Nicholas A. Rossi, Minority Staff Director
Trina Driessnack Tyrer, Chief Clerk
Joyce Ward, Publications Clerk and GPO Detailee
OVERSIGHT OF GOVERNMENT MANAGEMENT, THE FEDERAL WORKFORCE, AND THE
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA SUBCOMMITTEE
DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii, Chairman
CARL LEVIN, Michigan RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin
MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana TOM COBURN, Oklahoma
MARK BEGICH, Alaska JERRY MORAN, Kansas
Jessica Nagasako, Professional Staff Member
Patrick McIlheran, Professional Staff Member
Aaron H. Woolf, Chief Clerk
C O N T E N T S
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Opening statement:
Page
Senator Akaka................................................ 1
Prepared statement:
Senator Akaka................................................ 37
WITNESSES
Monday, May 21, 2012
Eduardo Ochoa, Assistant Secretary, Office of Postsecondary
Education, U.S. Department of Education........................ 3
Hon. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Director General of the Foreign
Service and Director of Human Resources, U.S. Department of
State.......................................................... 5
Laura Junor, Ph.D., Assistant Secretary of Defense for Readiness,
U.S. Department of Defense..................................... 7
Tracey North, Deputy Assistant Director Intelligence Operations
Branch, Directorate of Intelligence, Federal Bureau of
Investigations, U.S. Department of Justice..................... 8
Glenn Nordin, Principal Foreign Language and Area Advisor, Office
of the Under Secretary of Defense Intelligence, U.S. Department
of Defense..................................................... 9
Andrew Lawless, Member of the Globalization and Localization
Association and Chief Executive Officer of Dig-IT Strategies
for Content Globalization...................................... 20
Allan Goodman, Ph.D., Member of the Council on Foreign Relations'
Task Force on U.S. Education Reform and National Security and
President of the Institute for International Education......... 21
Dan E. Davidson, Ph.D., President of American Councils for
International Education and Elected President of the Joint
National Committee for Languages............................... 23
Shauna Kaplan, a fifth grade student at Providence Elementary
School, Fairfax County, VA..................................... 29
Paula Patrick, Coordinator of World Languages, Fairfax County
Public Schools................................................. 29
Michelle Dressner, 2010 participant in the National Security
Language Initiative for Youth Program.......................... 31
Jeffery Wood, a 2010 participant in the National Security
Language Initiative for Youth Program.......................... 32
Major Gregory Mitchell, a 1995 Fellow for the David L. Boren
Fellowship Program............................................. 33
Alphabetical List of Witnesses
Davidson, Dan E. Ph.D.:
Testimony.................................................... 23
Prepared statement........................................... 106
Dressner, Michelle:
Testimony.................................................... 31
Prepared statement........................................... 125
Goodman, Allan:
Testimony.................................................... 21
Prepared statement........................................... 99
Junor, Laura, Ph.D.:
Testimony.................................................... 7
Prepared statement with attachments.......................... 53
Kaplan, Shauna:
Testimony.................................................... 29
Prepared statement........................................... 121
Lawless, Andrew:
Testimony.................................................... 20
Prepared statement........................................... 88
Mitchell, Major Gregory:
Testimony.................................................... 33
Prepared statement........................................... 130
Nordin, Glenn:
Testimony.................................................... 9
Prepared statement........................................... 82
North, Tracey:
Testimony.................................................... 8
Prepared statement........................................... 75
Ochoa, Eduardo:
Testimony.................................................... 3
Prepared statement........................................... 39
Patrick, Paula:
Testimony.................................................... 29
Prepared statement........................................... 123
Thomas-Greenfield, Hon. Linda:
Testimony.................................................... 5
Prepared statement........................................... 48
Wood, Jeffery:
Testimony.................................................... 32
Prepared statement........................................... 128
APPENDIX
Questions and responses for the Record from:
Mr. Ochoa.................................................... 134
Ms. Thomas-Greenfield........................................ 144
Ms. Junor.................................................... 147
Ms. North.................................................... 148
Mr. Nordin................................................... 151
Statements for the Record from:
David L. Boren, President, University of Oklahoma............ 156
Leslie C. Berlowitz, President, American Academy of Arts and
Sciences................................................... 158
CommonSense Advisory......................................... 169
Letter from Secretary of Defense................................. 175
A NATIONAL SECURITY CRISIS:
FOREIGN LANGUAGE CAPABILITIES IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
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MONDAY, MAY 21, 2012
U.S. Senate,
Subcommittee on Oversight of Government
Management, the Federal Workforce,
and the District of Columbia,
of the Committee on Homeland Security
and Governmental Affairs,
Washington, DC.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:35 p.m., in
Room SD-342, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Daniel K.
Akaka, Chairman of the Subcommittee, presiding.
Present: Senators Akaka.
OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN AKAKA
Senator Akaka. Thank you all for being here. I call this
hearing of the Subcommittee on Oversight of Government
Management, Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia to
order.
I want to welcome our witnesses. Aloha and thank you for
being here.
As Chairman of the Subcommittee, I have held seven
oversight hearings that emphasized the need to build the
Federal Government's foreign language skills, from developing a
foreign language strategy to improving U.S. diplomatic
readiness. This is my final hearing on this topic.
Today, we will review the importance of foreign languages
to our national security and our economy. We will also examine
the State of the Federal Government's foreign language
capabilities and consider ways to improve our Nation's language
capacity.
Last year, we marked the 10th anniversary of the September
11, 2001, terrorist attacks. This tragic event exposed our
Nation's language shortfalls. The 9/11 Commission raised
concerns about the shortage of personnel with needed Middle
Eastern language skills at both the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA),
which hindered our understanding of the threat. These agencies,
as well as the Departments of State, Homeland Security, and
Defense continue to experience shortages of people skilled in
hard-to-learn languages due to a limited pool of Americans to
recruit from. Because of these shortages, agencies are forced
to fill language-designated positions with employees that do
not have those skills. Agencies then have to spend extra time
and funds training employees in these languages.
As U.S. businesses of all sizes look to expand, they need
employees with the foreign language skills and cultural
knowledge to access overseas markets. Our national and economic
security is closely linked to how well our schools prepare
students to succeed in a global environment. Experts indicate
that learning languages starting at the K-12 levels develop
higher language proficiency than those starting in college.
The Federal Government must partner with schools, colleges,
and the private sector to address this ongoing challenge at its
root cause: Our Nation's failure to adequately invest in
language education, starting at early ages.
Even in a difficult budget environment, we must fund
important international education and foreign language study
programs to build the pipeline to a 21st century workforce,
including the Foreign Language Assistance Program (FLAP). We
must make sure that budget cuts are not at the expense of
strategic national security interests. Short-sighted cuts, for
example, to the Department of Education's Title VI program,
could severely undermine the progress we have made in this
area.
Today, we will hear about agencies' progress on their
language capabilities. However, I believe agencies can do more
to coordinate and share best practices in recruiting,
retaining, and training personnel. Furthermore, I strongly
believe that a coordinated national effort among all levels of
government, industry, and academia is needed to tackle the
problem before us. If we work together, we can improve our
Nation's language capacity and effectively confront the
challenges to our Nation's security and economic prosperity.
I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today and
continuing the discussion on how we can address our Nation's
language needs.
Former Senator David Boren of Oklahoma, who has been a
long-time advocate on this issue and was a friend while he was
here, was kind enough to provide a statement for this hearing.
He continues to urge that we invest in comprehensive language
training and to address this language crisis.
I will submit his statement\1\ for the record.
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\1\ The statement of David Boren appears in the appendix on page
156.
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Senator Akaka. I look forward to hearing from our first
panel of witnesses and welcome again you here today. Eduardo
Ochoa, who is Assistant Secretary for the Office of
Postsecondary Education (OPE) at the U.S. Department of
Education.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the Director General of the
Foreign Service and Director of Human Resources at the U.S.
Department of State.
Dr. Laura Junor, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense
for Readiness at the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD).
Ms. Tracey North, who is the Deputy Assistant Director of
the Intelligence Operations Branch, of the Directorate of
Intelligence, for the Federal Bureau of Investigation at the
Department of Justice (DOJ).
And, Mr. Glenn Nordin, the Principal Foreign Language and
Area Advisor for the Office of The Undersecretary of Defense
Intelligence at the U.S. Department of Defense. He is
representing the Director of National Intelligence.
As you know, it is the custom of this Subcommittee to swear
in all witnesses. I would ask all of you to please stand and
raise your right hand.
Do you swear that the testimony that you are about to give
this Subcommittee is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing
but the truth, so help you, God.
Mr. Ochoa. I do.
Ms. Thomas-Greenfield. I do.
Ms. Junor. I do.
Ms. North. I do.
Mr. Nordin. I do.
Senator Akaka. Thank you. Let it be noted for the record
that the witnesses answered in the affirmative.
Before we start, I want you to know that your full written
statements will be made a part of the record and I would also
like to remind you to please limit your remarks to 5 minutes.
Mr. Ochoa, will you please proceed with your statement?
TESTIMONY OF HON. EDUARDO OCHOA,\1\ ASSISTANT SECRETARY, OFFICE
OF POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Mr. Ochoa. Thank you. Good afternoon, Chairman Akaka.
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\1\ The prepared statement of Mr. Ochoa appears in the appendix on
page 39.
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Thank you for the opportunity to appear before the
Subcommittee today. My name is Eduardo Ochoa and I am the
Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education at the U.S.
Department of Education. I am pleased to provide testimony for
this hearing on national security and Federal foreign language
capabilities. I particularly appreciate your focus on this
issue as I have direct experience having been born in Buenos
Aires, Argentina, where I attended bilingual schools until my
family moved to the United States during my junior year of high
school. I can tell you I personally understand the importance
of foreign language programs as they not only provide students
with a better understanding of other cultures, but they also
provided me with a unique insight and appreciation of my own
culture and language.
Before providing an overview of our programs, let me
express the Department's appreciation of your strong,
longstanding support for the advancement of foreign language
learning in this country.
The Department believes it is imperative that we improve
our Federal Government's foreign language capabilities. In
keeping with this belief, the Department recently adopted a
fully articulated international strategy designed to
simultaneously advance two goals: Strengthening the educational
attainment of U.S. students and advancing our Nation's
international priorities. A key objective of our plan which is
particularly relevant to the topic of today's hearing is to
increase global competencies of all U.S. students including
those from historically disadvantaged groups. The need for
these competencies which we think of as 21st Century skills
apply to the world is clear both for U.S. civil society and for
our Nation's workforce, and for our national security.
Right now, just 30 percent of U.S. secondary students and 8
percent of postsecondary students are enrolled in a foreign
language course, a long way from the multi-lingual societies of
so many of our economic competitors. Two-thirds of Americans
aged 18 to 24 cannot find Iraq on a map of the Middle East. And
African-Americans and Latinos continue to be underrepresented
among those who study abroad.
The development of these skills, including foreign language
proficiency, must start early, in elementary and secondary
education. U.S. colleges and universities have a responsibility
to help students further develop and deepen these skills but
waiting until postsecondary education to start is too late.
This means that school systems at all levels, from elementary
to postsecondary, must place a far greater emphasis on helping
students understand their responsibilities as global citizens.
We believe that engaging students in these ways will help our
Nation meet the President's 2020 college attainment goal with
more graduates ready to lead us well into the 21st Century.
I want to take some time to talk briefly about several
programs funded by the Department through our Office of
Postsecondary Education that support international learning and
foreign language acquisition. We support the teaching and
learning of foreign languages through a portfolio of 14
discretionary grant programs under the Higher Education Act
(HEA) Title VI and the Fulbright-Hays Act. Nine of these
programs receive $66.6 million to operate domestically and four
programs received $7.5 million to operate internationally.
One of the primary roles of the Title VI and Fulbright-Hays
programs is meeting the national need for expertise and
competence in foreign languages and in foreign area and
international studies. The National Resource Centers, supported
under Title VI, represent the Department's primary mechanism
for developing U.S. language and area expertise on college
campuses.
The 127 current grantee institutions provide instruction,
research and development in over 110 less commonly taught
languages from all world areas. These programs play an
important part in meeting the needs of the Nation's Federal
workforce, national security, and economic competitiveness for
individuals with foreign language skills.
In addition to our Title VI National Resource Centers, the
companion program, Title VI Foreign Language and Area Studies
Fellowships (FLAS)--provides funds to colleges and universities
to assist undergraduate and graduate students in foreign
language and area. In fiscal year (FY) 2011, 735 FLAS students
attended summer language programs overseas. Title VI funding
also supports the American Overseas Research Centers. In 2010
alone, 11 of these centers worked with nearly 1,000 social
science and humanities faculty and scholars, teachers, and
students.
The Federal investment in foreign languages and area
studies is critical to developing and sustaining the pipeline
of individuals with foreign language and international
education skills that are needed to address national security
and economic competitiveness needs. These programs also help to
enhance the capacity of education institutions and agencies at
all levels, including K-12 and postsecondary, to effectively
teach and learn foreign languages.
We are committed to continuing to improve and refocus our
programs to support the goals of the Department's international
strategy to strengthen U.S. education and advance the Nation's
international priorities.
We believe firmly that knowledge and understanding of other
cultures and languages are, in an increasingly interconnected
world, critical to building and sustaining our Nation over the
coming years.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for your attention to this
important issue, and I would be happy to answer any questions
later.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much for your statement.
And now, Ms. Thomas-Greenfield, would you please proceed
with your statement?
TESTIMONY OF HON. LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD,\1\ DIRECTOR GENERAL
OF THE FOREIGN SERVICE AND DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RESOURCES, U.S.
DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Ms. Thomas-Greenfield. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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\1\ The prepared statement of Ms. Thomas-Greenfield appears in the
appendix on page 48.
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Thank you very much for the opportunity to appear before
you today to discuss the Department of State's efforts and
their challenges to build the foreign language skills we need
to fulfill our mission and also to deliver on America's foreign
policy agenda.
I will be presenting a summary of my statement today and
ask that the full statement be submitted for the record.
The Bureau of Human Resources (HR) has the critical
responsibility of building and maintaining an effective
civilian workforce that can fulfill its role in strengthening
the security and prosperity of our Nation. As Secretary Clinton
emphasized in the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review,
managing threats, such as regional conflicts, wars, and
terrorism, depends as much on diplomacy and development as on
the use of military force.
Therefore, we have increased the number of positions at
difficult, hazardous posts that are vital to our foreign policy
agenda. We now have close to 4,000 language-designated
positions (LDPs) in these posts as well as in other locations.
It is challenging to uphold the Department's high standard
for foreign language capability with the increasing needs that
we have faced over the past years.
Over the past decade, there has been significant shift and
growth of positions to the Near East, South Asia, and East Asia
Bureaus requiring an increase in speakers of languages such as
Arabic, Hindi, Urdu, Dari, and Chinese. Overall, positions have
tripled in the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs (SCA)
where language designated position requirements have increased
tenfold and on the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs (NEA) has
doubled regular positions and the corresponding with Arabic
requirements.
The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) has expanded its
foreign language training capacity to meet these demands and to
raise the proficiency of existing foreign language speakers.
More targeted recruiting, however, can help to address the
current challenges, and we are recruiting aggressively for
certain priority language proficiency skills.
To address increasingly complex national security
challenges, the State Department must have robust foreign
language capabilities. Therefore, working with our interagency
partners, we strongly encourage young people to study languages
earlier in life, starting in middle and high school and
continuing through college as my colleague just mentioned.
To assist in building the pipeline, the State Department's
Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs is providing
language learning opportunities to thousands of American
University, college, and high school students and teachers each
year through our exchange program.
However, we are very concerned that with budget
constraints, universities are cutting language programs first
before they cut anything.
In addition, the Department has established incentives to
encourage employees to strengthen their language skills,
particularly in the so-called hard and superhard languages such
as Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Japanese, Korean, and Hindi. Such
incentives underscore the value placed by the Department on
improving capacity in our most difficult and critical foreign
languages.
We appreciate the support we have received from you as well
as from Congress as a whole under our Diplomacy 3.0 hiring
program to hire a training complement that enables more
overseas positions to remain filled while replacements receive
the required languages and functional training so that we do
not continue to assign people to posts who do not have the
requisite language skills.
While we work aggressively to recruit and retain the
talented staff needed in places like Afghanistan and Iraq, we
also must guarantee that our employees have the foreign
language skills necessary to succeed in these challenging
environments.
But the need is not limited to a handful of countries. We
have needs in many parts of the world, as I stated earlier. No
matter where in the world our employees are serving, our
employees must have the language skills to gather information,
explain and advocate U.S. policies, establish and maintain
diplomatic platforms, build and maintain trusts, and create
relationships.
In today's rapidly changing world, the need for these
skills has never been more critical. In fact, we believe that
our country's future well-being and security depend on them.
Mr. Chairman, I thank you for the opportunity to address
you today and I would be happy to answer any questions
following.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much.
Dr. Junor, please proceed with your statement.
TESTIMONY OF LAURA J. JUNOR,\1\ PH.D., ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF
DEFENSE FOR READINESS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Ms. Junor. Thank you. Chairman Akaka, thank you for
inviting me to talk to you about such an important topic. This
is a priority for the Nation and for the Department of Defense.
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\1\ The prepared statement of Ms. Junor appears in the appendix on
page 53.
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Let me begin by stating that Defense Secretary Panetta has
long believed that having a strong language ability is critical
to our national security and we are committed to fielding the
most capable force that we deploy. Our mission success is
directly connected to our ability to communicate effectively
with local populations and international partners.
Our current challenge lies in filling language-required
positions with personnel that possess the requisite language
skills. We have been reducing this deficiency but we need help.
We need our Nation's schools to develop students with these
skills from which we can recruit to meet our needs. Studies
show that exposure to foreign language and early language
learning greatly facilitate language acquisition.
Therefore, bringing in individuals with foreign language
skills make it easier to train people to higher levels of
proficiency. This, in turn, would make it easier for us to fill
positions with appropriately qualified individuals.
We are working to overcome these challenges through
collaborative interagency strategies to achieve our vision for
language, regional, and cultural capabilities. The strategy
addresses the importance of identifying our language needs,
acquiring and sustaining language skills, enhancing language
careers, building partners and increasing surge capacity. The
department is improving the identification of its language
needs through standardized capability-based processes. These
processes enable the combatant commanders to articulate their
language and needs or requirements and provide them to the
military services who supply the staff to meet those needs.
We have also sought innovative solutions to enhance the
language acquisition and sustainment processes, which includes
creating a national security workforce pipeline; enhancing
language training and sustainments in the total force;
increasing partner language capacity; recruiting native and
heritage speakers; and creating financial incentives.
Enhancing language careers is essential to sustaining and
retaining persons with foreign-language skills. We are creating
better opportunities for promotion of personnel with critical
language skills, creating multiple regionally focused training
initiatives and offering language enhancement opportunities to
Federal national security employees.
We also recognize the need for partners. The Department
actively engages with Federal agencies through the National
Security Education Board (NSEB), an interagency governance body
that provides input on language, regional, and cultural issues.
We also use an internal governance body, the Defense
Language Steering Committee (DLSC), consisting of
representatives from 25 key components across the Department to
coordinate policies and programs.
By experience, we have learned the importance of building a
surge capacity to yield language expertise quickly and at a
reasonable cost. The Department's National Language Service
Corps (NLSC) provides a pool of qualified volunteers with high
levels of proficiency in both English and foreign languages who
can serve and then be activated as temporary government
employees when needed.
We have made real progress in improving our foreign-
language skills, regional expertise, and cultural capabilities
to meet 21st Century national security challenges. Although we
have achieved much success, we acknowledge that much work
remains. Our vision and strategy are designed to build language
and cultural capabilities so they are available to DOD and
other Federal agencies when needed.
Thank you, sir, for the opportunity to share the
Department's efforts in this area and I am happy to answer any
questions that you may have.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, doctor.
Ms. North, would you please proceed with your statement?
TESTIMONY OF TRACEY NORTH,\1\ DEPUTY ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
INTELLIGENCE OPERATIONS BRANCH, DIRECTORATE OF INTELLIGENCE,
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATIONS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Ms. North. Thank you, Chairman Akaka.
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\1\ The prepared statement of Ms. North appears in the appendix on
page 75.
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I am proud to sit before you alone with my esteemed
counterparts. I want to thank you for the opportunity to appear
before the Committee today and in particular for your continued
support for the FBI's foreign-language program and our critical
mission.
The Directorate of Intelligence's Language Services Section
(LSS) is responsible for the organization's entire foreign-
language program. They support the FBI's mission by providing
quality language services to the FBI and its partners. These
services include foreign migrant recruitment, hiring, testing,
training, translations, interpretations, and other foreign-
language related functions at the FBI. The Language Services
Section provides a centralized command and control structure at
FBI headquarters to ensure that our linguist resource base of
over 1,400 linguists, an increase of 85 percent since 9/11, is
strategically aligned with priorities set by our operational
divisions and national intelligence priorities.
The FBI relies on foreign-language capabilities to quickly
and accurately inform operations and enhance analysis. The
success of the FBI's mission is clearly dependent upon high
quality language services and the ability to translate and
analyze information in a timely manner.
The FBI's foreign-language program has made great strides
in its ability to meet the rising demand FBI language needs
since September 11, 2001. The program has moved forward through
increased recruitment, hiring, retention, specialized training,
technology, and collaboration.
We have also significantly increased the range and volume
of the foreign-language training the FBI offers to personnel
who need to develop language proficiency to do their jobs.
Programs include academic immersion training, study abroad, and
tailored language courses.
We realize we are not able to address our foreign-language
needs with recruitment, hiring, or training alone. So, we also
invest in the development of human language technology tools.
These tools provide the ability to triage and process large
volumes of information while enabling the workforce to enhance
productivity.
Through collaboration, we address our foreign-language
needs by leveraging the intelligence community and other
partners through cross community resource sharing, joint duty
assignments, and interagency short-term temporary duty
assignment opportunities.
We work with the National Security Education Programs
(NSEP) national Flagship universities and Georgetown's English
for Heritage Language Speakers Programs to funnel language-
capable people into the contract linguist process and we reach
out to the National Language Service Corps when we have
language needs we cannot meet with in-house language resources.
As the executive agent for the National Virtual Translation
Center (NVTC), we are able to provide virtual language support
not only for other intelligence community partners but also for
other agencies with foreign-language challenges.
In closing, I want to thank you for the opportunity to
appear here today and provide testimony on the FBI's foreign-
language program. As you know, more detail has been provided in
my written testimony which I respectfully submit for the
record. I am also looking forward to answering any questions
you may have for me today.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Ms. North.
Mr. Nordin, will you please proceed with your statement?
TESTIMONY OF GLENN NORDIN,\1\ PRINCIPAL FOREIGN LANGUAGE AND
AREA ADVISOR, OFFICE OF THE UNDER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE
INTELLIGENCE, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Mr. Nordin. Senator Akaka and other folks attending, I am
honored to act as spokesman for the Director of National
Intelligence in today's hearing. I am particularly honored, as
I know this will be the last hearing of this Subcommittee
chaired by you, sir.
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\1\ The prepared statement of Mr. Nordin appears in the appendix on
page 82.
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We, in the foreign-language community, are indebted to you
for your leadership in bringing world language study to a focal
point in national dialogue. Thank you.
Foreign language capabilities, together with a deep
knowledge of the cultures and societal infrastructure of the
populace in geographic areas of interest to our national
security, are of paramount importance to the successful
performance of the strategic and tactical intelligence missions
of today.
The complexity of the Intelligence Community's (IC) mission
in today's world and the variety of Nations and nonstate global
actors impacting our national security and national interests
make it an absolute imperative that we possess a deep
understanding of their cultures, interests, and intentions
along with the capability to understand and communicate in
their languages.
Professional language skills, cultural awareness, and
textual knowledge are core competencies in the collection,
processing, analysis, and dissemination of intelligence
information.
The shift in real and perceived threats to national
security and global stability from 1992 until the present
resulted in an increase in the number of world languages that
are essential to understanding and dealing with those threats.
A sharp increase in our needs for skills in the less and the
least commonly taught languages led to shortfall in sufficiency
and proficiency of the community's language workforce.
In order to meet the needs of the day, the community and
our forces engage contractor services comprised primarily of
foreign nationals and civilian immigrants, citizen immigrants.
We know that we must build an organic civilian and military
language workforce of translators, interpreters, negotiators,
and language analysts capable of supporting our steady State
needs and vetting the contract capabilities needed during
surge.
Thus, the community is now set on a course to significantly
increase and improve our organic capabilities together with
rational employment of their foreign-language skills and
foreign area knowledge. In order to retain their services, we
need to offer these professionals rewarding careers as language
specialists.
While the technology of today and many tomorrows ahead will
not replace the human cognitive skills in processing foreign
language, rational integration of key technologies can
facilitate the work process and enable higher productivity on
the part of the language-equipped analyst.
The Director of National Intelligence advocates a
significant increase in foreign-language capability through
expansion of the language-capable workforce while facilitating
and expediting their work through integration of state-of-the-
art human language technology into the collection and analytic
processes.
Together with the Defense Department leadership, we are
exploring the feasibility and potential cost benefits of a
professional military cadre of translators, interpreters,
language analysts, and instructors serving in the general
purpose, special operations, and intelligence forces.
Research has shown the advantage of starting language at an
early age as noted before. The IC's STARTALK program which
supports language students and teachers in the elementary and
secondary school system is an essential first step.
The Intelligence Community will seek to capitalize on the
current investments in language education by targeting,
recruiting, and hiring the best and brightest products of
programs currently sponsored under IC and other Federal
funding, and the community will continue to recruit and hire
native and heritage speakers.
I see that my time has about expired. I would like to
continue for another minute, sir.
Senator Akaka. Yes.
Mr. Nordin. I would be remiss if I did not cite two
activities sponsored by the Defense Department and the
intelligence community that have and will continue to have
major impact on national foreign-language capability.
First, the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language
Center (DLIFLC) that continues to produce novice, professional
language specialists from high school graduates. The center
also provides worldwide initial online learning as well as
maintenance and enhancement continuing education to all
entities.
Second, the Center for the Advanced Study of Language, a
university-affiliated research Center at the University of
Maryland (UMD). The center is charged with improving the way we
teach, learn, and employ second and multiple languages through
research toward enhancing and optimizing human cognitive
skills.
The work of the center is contributing to improved aptitude
testing, training and working memory and improved understanding
of the languages of Africa and Asia.
On behalf of the Director, I thank you for this opportunity
to address this important national issue; and one final
statement, sir, as foreign language capabilities are an
inherent government responsibility, the Federal Government must
continue its investment in these precious, valuable tools for
national security.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Mr. Nordin.
Dr. Ochoa, you testified, and it seems that the panel
agrees to this, that foreign-language skills are critically
important to our national security. However, the Department's
only K-12 initiative, which is the Foreign-Language Assistance
Program could, lose out on funding by competing with other core
subjects and funding for Title VI language programs have been
significantly reduced since Fiscal Year 2011.
How will you support the Department's international
strategy to develop globally competent students in light of
these budget cuts?
Mr. Ochoa. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the question.
It is true that we have rolled that money into lump-sum
funding for K-12 to provide more flexibility and more
efficiency in the management of those programs but we are also
placing, more globally, an emphasis on the development of
global competencies.
The fundamental message that we are transmitting is that in
order to achieve the objectives of the President's 2020 goal,
we have to have a kind of quality education that includes those
global competencies as part of it. So, as we move beyond the
focus on math and English language competency to encompass
other subjects, these will also be emphasized and highlighted
throughout the pipeline.
Senator Akaka. I would like to follow up with a question to
the rest of the panel. How will cuts in the Department of
Education's language and international programs affect your
efforts to build and maintain your Department's language
capabilities? Ambassador.
Ms. Thomas-Greenfield. Thank you very much for that
question, and it is very relevant to what we do in the State
Department in terms of training our officers for language
skills.
We know that it is more difficult to train people as adults
than it is to bring them in with the foreign-language skills
early on. And, it is our belief that young people who start
language training as early as sixth and seventh grade come
prepared with the languages when we hire them.
Right now, we are spending, and this figure is a very rough
figure, but about $250,000 for each position that we are
training people for. If I use Iraq as an example, where we are
signing people for 1 year when they come in. We have one
officer in the position. We have one officer in the first year
of training and one officer in the second year of training. If
we brought those people in with the language skills, we would
save that amount of money up front with our officers.
Again, thank you.
Senator Akaka. Thank you. Dr. Junor.
Ms. Junor. Yes, Senator. To follow-up and to build on the
last set of comments, DOD has built a lot of partnerships with
the support of our national language fellowships with the
States and we have made a lot of headway.
But this relies on an infrastructure and capacity that was
laid down by the Department of Education. So simply put, it
makes a hard problem harder. Clearly, continued partnerships,
public-private partnerships, the State-Federal partnerships
will help us get through this but there is no question that we
value our partnership at the Department of Education now and in
the past.
Senator Akaka. Thank you. Ms. North.
Ms. North. So, as you know, the FBI recruits from our
communities out there and whether we recruit from the heritage
community, a native community, or for those people who have
learned the language through education, for us our challenge is
to get them through the recruitment and background process.
So, as the Department of Education increases the number of
students for us to recruit that are U.S. citizens, who have
spent their life here in the United States as opposed to
overseas, that increases the ability of us to get them through
their background, their full-scope background quicker. And, for
that reason we definitely appreciate what the Department of
Education is doing for us in that respect.
Senator Akaka. Thank you. Mr. Nordin.
Mr. Nordin. Yes, sir. I think we have a responsibility in
our outreach program from all of the Federal entities to go out
and help the school boards and the systems to find ways to
continue language education, and I think that is a
responsibility that we bear.
Senator Akaka. Thank you.
Dr. Ochoa, as I mentioned in my statement, I believe
coordination is key to addressing our language crisis and
strategically target limited resources. How is the Department
working with other Federal agencies to make sure that it's
programs are addressing our national security needs?
Mr. Ochoa. Mr. Chairman, thank you.
Pursuant to the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008,
the Secretary of Education consults annually with the 16
cabinet agencies in the Federal Government to receive
recommendations on areas of national need for expertise in
foreign languages and world regions.
The Department's Deputy Assistant Secretary for
International Foreign-language Education and the senior staff
at OPE serve as advisory committee members for the Department
of Defense National Security Education Program and the
Department of State's Title VIII program under the Bureau of
Intelligence and Research.
The Department also has an interagency agreement with the
Department of State to assist with administration of the
Fulbright-Hays programs administered by the Department, and the
staff of our International Education Division works
cooperatively with the Department of Commerce's International
Trade Administration Western Hemisphere Office to plan and
participate in seminars intended to give students and faculty
at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and the
Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) an understanding of
funding and other opportunities in international business
education.
And, we are also members of the Interagency Language
Roundtable (ILR) which is an unfunded Federal interagency
organization that was formally established in 1973 for the
coordination and sharing of information about language related
activities at the Federal level.
So, that group serves as a premier way for the Department
and agencies of the Federal Government to keep abreast of the
progress and implementation of techniques and technology for
language learning, language use, language testing, and other
language related activities.
Senator Akaka. Thank you. I would like to ask the rest of
the panel to answer this followup question. Will you please
discuss steps your Departments have taken to coordinate Federal
language education programs? Ambassador.
Ms. Thomas-Greenfield. Thank you again for that question.
As you know, we have a premier language Foreign Service
Training Institute at the Foreign Service Institute, and we
make available places at the Foreign Service Institute for
other agencies to participate in our language training program.
We also participate in the interagency committees that look at
language training.
We think it is very important as our embassies represent
the platform for all agencies overseas for those agencies also
to have people with language skills who arrive to fill their
positions as well. So, we see it as key to all of our foreign
policy goals to have other agency individuals with the
requisite language training.
Senator Akaka. Dr. Junor.
Ms. Junor. Sir, by far our biggest effort is the National
Security Education Board which helps fund the National Security
Education Program. This board was established by Senator Boren
in 1991 and has been meeting since 1994. It brings together
about seven Federal agencies to help achieve its main goal,
which is to establish partnerships among the Federal
Government, partnerships with Federal and State entities and
even public-private partnerships.
In doing so, we have helped create State roadmaps for
education. These roadmaps are an opportunity for individual
States to work with our Flagship institutions and they create a
clearinghouse for best practices in providing language
instruction to our kids.
This pipeline then flows through elementary school, middle
school, high school and into our Flagship colleges where we
provide several initiatives. The Boren scholarships and grants
ensure that we are not only creating folks with an awareness of
language but some with that professional level of expertise
that ILR-3 or better where we sponsor an immersive experience
overseas. And in doing so, that creates a better pool for not
only DOD but all of our Federal partners to draw from.
Within DOD, we have several initiatives. Our Project Global
Officer. We have a new project with the Reserve Officer
Training Corps (ROTC) candidates and several initiatives for
our Foreign Area Officers (FAOs) and we already heard about our
Defense Language Institute (DLI) to create classes for military
members to come and learn. Many of the teaching devices that
are available through DLI are also open to Federal partners.
Thank you, sir.
Senator Akaka. Thank you. Ms. North.
Ms. North. So, one of the better ways that we are actually
collaborating with our partners is through the National Virtual
Translation Center. This is a center that was created as a
result of the USA Patriot Act back in 2001 and then in 2003 the
FBI became the executive agent for this center under the Office
of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).
What this center does is they are a virtual capability for
the U.S. Government and the intelligence community where they
have provided support not only for the intelligence community
but for DOD, the combatant commands. Particularly at one
center, we have in Doha where they provided regional expertise
to the embassies in that region, CENTCOM and AFRICOM.
We are also a member of the Interagency Language Roundtable
and the Foreign-Language Executive Committee (FLEXCOM) which is
an interagency committee where best practices are shared and
different initiatives and the outcomes for those initiatives.
One of the results of that is the FBI created a language
quality program where all of our products are then quality
controlled before they go out the door. That became a best
practice and that process and methodology was shared among our
partners, not only here in the United States but also overseas.
Then, we are just continuing to leverage the other IC
partners as far as technology is concerned. As we know, that as
technology develops we need to be able to triage our collection
faster and in a more expeditious manner. We are hoping that
through the combined efforts of all of our partners that
technology will advance to a rate that we can use on a daily
basis and it will cut back the time it takes us to actually
review that collection. That is a priority for us.
Senator Akaka. Mr. Nordin.
Mr. Nordin. I suppose one of the big items is the STARTALK
program that the DNI initiated as part of the National Security
Language Initiative in which teachers and students in the
elementary and secondary school system are treated to a summer
of study and interchange in the languages that they have.
There is a number of community meeting places where we all
get together. The ILR is a primary one which is currently led
by an employee of the Army.
That unchartered and unfunded organization is doing just
fine after 30 some years and its work is added to by the
Foreign-Language Executive Committee of the ODNI. The State
Department's FSI is a great host to this organization, and you
have the Defense Language Steering Committee, the National
Education's Security Education Program, all of these groups
work together, sir. It is the most collaborative group of
people that I have ever worked with. Thank you.
Senator Akaka. Thank you. This question is for the national
security agencies. The DOD has filled only 28 percent of the
positions with language requirements with qualified employees
and other agencies here are struggling with this issue as well.
What challenges are your Departments facing in recruiting,
hiring, and retaining personnel with the needed language skills
and what steps have you taken to address these challenges?
Ambassador.
Ms. Thomas-Greenfield. Thank you again for that question.
We are actually doing very well now in filling our
language-designated positions with people with the requisite
language training, and right now the State Department is about
70 percent. We have a very high bar for that, and that is,
people who have tested recently in the language at a 3-3 level.
So, we feel we are doing very good but it is because we
have done a lot of work over the past 3 years with the training
float that we were able to develop based on a 3.0 diplomacy
hiring. So, we have hired over the past few years about 15
percent more so that we can put people in language training
while others are in the jobs. We are somewhat concerned as we
approach the next year because we do not have the hiring float.
He will only be able to a hire to attrition and we need to
continue to encourage more hiring or get support and resources
for more hiring to continue to have that training float so that
we can continue to train qualified people.
Senator Akaka. Thank you. Dr. Junor.
Ms. Junor. Yes, sir. I talked a lot about our first
challenge and that is to try to improve the accession pool.
After folks come in, we have two ways we think about this,
teaching folks who come in their language capability. We have
the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center. And
that is creating an in-house cadre of language speakers and we
can get them up to ILR-2. This is hard and it is expensive but
it does serve its purpose.
We are also using the Language Training Centers. In order
to further improve our language capabilities, we are trying to
improve how we use these folks. So, you may have seen recently
that the Army is creating regionally aligned forces, and this
will help us build expertise in other cultures as well as give
service focal points for folks who speak those languages around
the world to go and practice.
We are also trying to expand how we use, over the last
several years we have tried to expand how we use heritage
speakers. We have the National Language Service Corp which is a
very important surge capacity. That is over 240 languages that
are at our disposal and there is no way we could have created
such a competency starting from scratch. We are very thankful
for that.
We also have something called 09 Lima program and the
Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest (MAVNI)
program. These are methods for heritage speakers to come and
actually serve as uniformed military members and serve as in-
house language and cultural experts. These folks have been
critical to our efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan over the last
10 years.
And, we also have the Defense Language Institute English
Language Center and again that is to increase the language
capacity of our partners.
Senator Akaka. Thank you. Ms. North.
Ms. North. So, as I mentioned earlier, we actually have a
linguist workforce of over 1,400 which is an 85 percent
increase from 9/11 and our retention rate is 94 percent. So, we
are actually doing fairly well in that regard.
We have implemented what we call a workforce planning model
where we actually do targeted recruitment toward languages
where there is a shortfall or anticipated need. Our hiring goal
is 90 percent fill rate. We are currently at 88 percent and we
anticipate that we are going to meet our Fiscal Year 2012 goal,
and the flexibility that we have is that mixed workforce of
contract linguists and language analyst.
As a result, we have reduced our average applicant
processing time and we are down to now 10 months which, for us,
is a really good news story. The challenges that we face in
recruiting and hiring is our difficulty in finding those
individuals who can pass the foreign-language test battery at
the level that we require. They also need a polygraph
examination and a full scope background.
And then, given our requirements that a lot of our material
has to be submitted to a court of law for evidentiary purposes,
we have a higher bar set for our language skills.
We have an average of 1 in 10 applicants actually getting
through that applicant process. And of course, we are competing
with everyone else here at the table for those same resources.
The way that we mitigate those challenges is through
recruiting fairs that we actually go out to look at the native
and heritage communities. We advertise in those foreign-
language newspapers. We put out press releases and we do in-
person events. We also attend university hiring events and the
intelligence community has a virtual career fair that we also
attend.
And then, we leverage the other language enabled employees
in the FBI. We are able to provide them with a limited amount
of foreign-language incentive pay where, if they have a
language that is critical to our needs, we can actually reward
them for that ability.
And then, we also leverage our IC partners through cross-
community resource sharing. So, we host joint duty assignments,
interagency short-term temporary duty assignments. We work with
the National Security Education Program as I have mentioned
before and that Heritage Language Speakers Program.
Still we do have foreign-language needs and those continue
to be Arabic, the Yemeni dialects, Chinese, Farsi, Pashto, and
Somali.
Senator Akaka. Mr. Nordin.
Mr. Nordin. One of the difficulties that we have had has
always been the inability to take people away from the
positions where they are actively using their language and send
them off to school to learn their language better or to do
other jobs.
We are very appreciative of the training float that was
granted to the DNI for a number of positions so that we can
send some of these people off to get their enhancement
training.
But the biggest difficulty we face, sir, I feel, is in our
leadership, and I cannot give the specific names, but let us
say the general Federal entity leadership is as unaware of the
needs for language within their organizations as the general
populace is failing to be aware of the needs for language in
their community. It is a national disgrace in that respect,
sir.
And, it is that lack of knowledge that we need to correct.
We need to find a way to communicate to our people just how
important that interpreter/translator at the social services
level is to a community's well-being. So, that is our biggest
education challenge I feel.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Mr. Nordin.
Dr. Junor, you mentioned earlier the National Language
Service Corps. Will you please discuss how the Corps addresses
the Department's language needs, as well as any plans to
further develop the corps?
Dr. Junor. Yes, sir. The National Language Service Corps,
there are over 3,500 members at this point and about 400 more
applicants. I mentioned before that this represents over 240
languages around the world. There is a national pool that looks
like our inactive reserve and a dedicated pool that looks like
our active reserve.
And, what this means is that it truly is a surge capacity
for those emergent needs that must be filled. That dedicated
pool represents a predictable and very broad capacity for
languages that are not commonly found.
Several geographic combatant commanders, to include CENTCOM
and PACOM and AFRICOM are regularly drawing from this. Several
of our force providers, our North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO) oriented units, are drawing on these capabilities as
well as key agencies.
Non-DOD agencies, and we have heard from some of them
today, include everywhere from FBI to the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS),
Department of Justice, Center for Disease Prevention, and
several States. Individual States have drawn from the service
corps.
In a time of fiscal austerity, it is useful to point out
that we have actually been able to recapture some of the
investments we have made in Federal employees in that about 8
percent of the service corps have previously had Federal
background. So, we are recapturing those language capabilities.
The National Language Service Corps is something that we
rely on frequently and is relatively new in our world. As word
is getting around, we expect the demand for this capability to
increase. So, it is something that we take very seriously.
Senator Akaka. Thank you. Let me ask my final question to
the entire panel. What do you envision as the end goal for
language capacity and what resources or authorities are needed
to reach that goal?
Mr. Ochoa, I would like to discuss the Department's vision
for a national language capacity and I would like the other
witnesses to discuss language capacity within your Departments.
So, that is my question to the entire panel. And let me begin
with Mr. Ochoa.
Mr. Ochoa. Thank you, Senator Akaka.
Well, ultimately we are really trying to prepare the Nation
for the global 21st Century society that we are going into; and
that requires, as we have outlined in our international
strategy, the development of global competencies in our
citizenry. This will lead to positive outcomes all around.
In addition to the very focused national security concerns,
there is improved understanding of the world, the greater
effectiveness in our business dealings with other countries and
other regions of the world, also a greater understanding of the
diversity within our own country as we draw from populations
across the world.
This is the kind of society that we are going to be working
in the future. We have, as we draw students from across the
world, they represent a potential untapped resource because
they are really bridges to communities all over the world.
We are a Nation that, unlike many other countries, we are
defined by an idea that draws people from all over the world
and has for the lifetime of our country. And so, that is a very
powerful asset that we have and I think that preserving and
expanding that cultural diversity and the language that people
bring is something that I think will stand us in good stead in
the global society of the future.
Senator Akaka. Well, I have always felt the diversity of
our country is its strength, and so that is that part of the
strength. Thank you.
Mr. Ochoa. Absolutely.
Senator Akaka. Ambassador.
Ms. Thomas-Greenfield. Thank you again.
The Department of State has a huge responsibility of
carrying out our diplomatic goals all over the world; and in
order to do that, we have to have a workforce that has the
language skills to do it wherever we are in the world.
So, what we see in the future or hope for in the future is
to be able to recruit people with those language skills when
they come into the Foreign Service so that we are able to
deploy them as quickly as possible to those areas of the world
where they are required and we would like to be able to have
the resources to continue to train them in their languages, to
improve their language skills so that as they go up in the
Foreign Service, they are better able to negotiate for our
government to help us prevent wars.
This is a huge responsibility that we have and we know that
we need to have people with language skills to carry out those
responsibilities.
Senator Akaka. Thank you. Dr. Junor.
Ms. Junor. Yes, sir. We live with two realities. The first
is that we are the biggest, largest consumer of language
capabilities, that we are the biggest hirer of folks, we have
the largest need of folks with language requirements in the
Federal Government and probably nationwide and these are
profound needs. These are needs in some of the most difficult
languages out there.
The second reality is that except for a gifted few,
learning language is hard. It is not something that you do once
and then is yours forever. You have to sustain that expertise
throughout your career; and especially with the fiscal
realities being what they are, our end state is the furtherance
of the national plan, a national partnership.
We cannot meet our needs alone. Partnerships like I said
among our Federal partners to share best practices on how to
help K-12 to keep that pipeline coming, practices on how to
improve and sustain language capability once they have come in
our doors, and further partnerships with Congress to help keep
this pivotal national issue.
Thank you, sir.
Senator Akaka. Thank you. Ms. North.
Ms. North. Since September 11, 2001, the FBI's Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) collection in counter-
terrorism and counter-intelligence related matters has
increased significantly and we do not see that trend reversing
at all. We project that the demand for translation services
will only continue to increase.
So, the challenge for us is achieving the goal of
translating all of the material that we collect. We are never
going to be able to do that because of what we collect and the
volume that continues to come in.
So, really what we need to be able to do is partner with
our other agencies in the intel community, in the civilian
community so that we have the resources that we need then to
remain flexible so that we can meet those new and emerging
threats as they appear.
As years go along, the languages that are going to be in
demand are going to change. Right now, we cannot predict what
those languages will be 20 years from now but now is the time
that we actually have to start training our workforce for those
languages 20 years in the future.
So to have those resources to remain flexible so that we
can reconfigure our workforce and also to help work on the
technology so that we can triage the material that we are
getting to be able to ID the speaker, ID the language, look to
see what we can do to actually focus our analysts so that their
work becomes more productive and not such a sifting through of
all the collection that we have.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Ms. North. Mr. Nordin.
Mr. Nordin. The Director has laid a strategy of increasing
the number of persons in the intelligence community who have
command of other languages, cultures, knowledge of the
countries and augmenting that increase with key technologies
inserted at critical points within our intelligence collection
and analytic systems so that you facilitate and control the
volumes of material that are being processed.
There is no one solution to the problem. It lies in the
Nation itself understanding the need for foreign language in
their daily lives. Thank you.
Senator Akaka. Thank you. I want to thank this panel very
much for your responses and your statements, of course. You
have been very helpful and I want to wish you well as we work
together to continue to increase our Nation's language.
You are doing a great job but we still have more to do. I
want to thank you for what you are doing and wish you well in
your work.
I would like to ask our second panel to please come
forward.
I want to welcome Mr. Andrew Lawless, Member of the
Globalization and Localization Association and Chief Executive
Officer of Dig-IT Strategies for Content Globalization; Dr.
Allan Goodman, Member of the Council on Foreign Relations' Task
Force on U.S. Education Reform and National Security and
President of the Institute for International Education; and Dr.
Dan E. Davidson, President of the American Councils for
International Education and Elected President of the Joint
National Committee for Languages (JNCL).
It is the custom, as you know, of this Subcommittee to
swear in all witnesses. I would ask you to please rise and
raise your right hand. Do you swear that the testimony you are
about to give this Subcommittee is the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth so help you, God?
Mr. Lawless. I do.
Mr. Goodman. I do.
Mr. Davidson. I do.
Senator Akaka. Thank you. Let it be noted in the record
that the witnesses answered in the affirmative.
Before we start, I want you to know that your full written
statements will be made a part of the record, and I would like
also to remind you please to limit your oral remarks to 5
minutes.
So, Mr. Lawless, would you please proceed with your
statement.
TESTIMONY OF ANDREW LAWLESS,\1\ MEMBER OF THE GLOBALIZATION AND
LOCALIZATION ASSOCIATION AND PRINCIPAL OF DIG-IT CONSULTING
Mr. Lawless. Thank you, Chairman Akaka.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ The prepared statement of Mr. Lawless appears in the appendix
on page 88.
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Thank you for the opportunity to offer my testimony about
the business of language in the United States; I will do so on
behalf of the Globalization and Localization Association (GALA)
that is the international trade association for the corporate
translation sector.
As an American citizen with a thick German accent and an
Irish last name, I feel especially motivated to speak to you
today how the shortage of language resources puts our economic
security at risk.
Let me give you some context first. U.S. businesses
exported about $1.5 trillion in goods and $600 billion in
services last year, all of which depended on language services
to sell and market to audiences whose native language is not
English.
News statements, Web sites, movies, product literature,
software, and safety information, labeling, digital games, and
customs support are all translated every day in over 500 major
language pairs.
The outsourced language services industry represented in
$15.5 billion of activity and 190,000 jobs in North America
last year. This does not account for the vastly larger pool of
part-time and freelance linguists in the United States, let
alone the jobs that the language industry has indirectly
created such as for the American people who market, sell,
deliver, and support U.S. made products worldwide.
Languages, and the business that they enable, may be the
most powerful force in job creation in the United States today.
Without translation and localization, U.S. businesses would be
missing $2.1 trillion in gross income.
As U.S. companies target multi-lingual audiences at home
and abroad, they create a rapidly growing need for language
services and a workforce that can deliver in cross-cultural
settings. If you sell products in Germany, your customers will
tweet back at you in German and your customer support team
needs to be ready.
To stay relevant and to continue to successfully compete in
a global marketplace, U.S. companies must build language
capabilities. Acquiring language skills takes time, repeated
exposure, and practice to develop. Not acting immediately on
these development needs have dire consequences on the U.S.
economy.
We are already seeing a chronic shortfall of qualified
language specialists and stagnant translator activity. As a
result, corporations are increasingly relying on less qualified
translators and low quality machine translations, all of which
are rendering their products less competitive in the global
marketplace.
The American workforce needs more key competencies in
disciplines such as translation, localization, terminology,
localization technologies, engineering, and multimedia. These
skills are in high demand and will continue to be sought after.
U.S. businesses and government agencies are addressing the
needs for language competence but we need more cooperation
between private sector, government, and academia.
For example, investing in startup and existing language
technology companies, promoting research and development of
language activity in key areas such as emerging markets,
homeland security and cyber crime, expanding the educational
and career opportunities for U.S. citizens in language-related
fields, and last but not least, training specialized workers
such as law enforcement officers and the intelligence community
in targeted skills.
As an association, GALA has committed to educating our
member companies in advancing our industry to alleviate the
looming crisis but we cannot do it all on our own. We will need
the close collaboration between translation service companies,
technology providers, the buyer community, government, and
academia.
GALA would welcome the opportunity to expand on this
testimony and our recommendations in more detail. We also
appreciate the invitations from the previous panel to
collaborate with the private sector and we are definitely open
for that and welcome that conversation.
And, thank you for the opportunity to testify and I am
happy to answer any questions that you have.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Mr. Lawless.
Dr. Goodman, please proceed with your statement.
TESTIMONY OF ALLAN E. GOODMAN,\1\ PH.D., MEMBER OF THE COUNCIL
ON FOREIGN RELATIONS' TASK FORCE ON U.S. EDUCATION REFORM AND
NATIONAL SECURITY AND PRESIDENT OF THE INSTITUTE FOR
INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION
Mr. Goodman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It was an honor to
receive the call from this Subcommittee to present some
testimony. It is a privilege to serve as President of the
Institute of International Education which administers the
Fulbright, Gilman, and Boren programs on behalf of the
Department of State and the Department of Defense.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ The prepared statement of Mr. Goodman appears in the appendix
on page 99.
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What really captured my attention for this hearing was
participation in the Council on Foreign Relations' Task Force.
It was chaired by Secretary Condoleezza Rice and former
Chancellor of the New York City Public School System, Joel
Klein. It was a very bipartisan and very mixed group.
For someone in a higher education, what really was to me
the heart of the recommendation was the call for a national
readiness audit which would help us understand the very things
your statement and your questions and this Subcommittee have
been asking about for a long time. How prepared is the Nation
and at what levels are we teaching all of our citizens to have
proficiency in another language?
Now, it is easy for us in higher education and
international education to forget just how many of our citizens
are connected to the world and do not get the chance to study
it.
Seventy percent of Americans today do not have a passport.
That is about the same percentage of Americans with a college
education that cannot find Indonesia on a map, cannot find Iran
on a map, and believe that South Sudan, the newest country in
the world, is either in Southeast Asia or in South America.
Most Americans who do study abroad go to a relatively few
number of countries, many also English-speaking, and they study
abroad for a very short period of time.
The other thing that we tend to forget, except for you and
this Subcommittee, is that foreign language learning in our
country may be at the lowest level in our Nations history.
Certainly, for college students today about, as Secretary
Ochoa said, only 8 percent studying a foreign language, that is
half of what it was in 1965; and yet, the need for, as you have
noted many times, the need for much more proficiency in foreign
language is where the future ought to be.
The Federal programs that this Subcommittee has supported
are quite strategic, therefore, in my view. Fulbright, Boren,
Gilman, are global. They get our citizens to more than 150
different countries.
They are very diverse, not only in terms of where students
go but the students from our society that go. More than half
are from minority groups in our society, a much different
portfolio and profile than is the normal study abroad profile
of Americans going abroad. They go for longer periods of time,
and that is conducive to language study.
So, I think this Congress has repeatedly made very
strategic investments in these programs and we are grateful.
But to move the needle--I am not going to ask for more money to
move the needle, what has to happen is that American higher
education has to reinstitute foreign language proficiency as a
graduation requirement for every undergraduate going through
our systems.
A hundred years ago that was true in every college in
America, from technical schools to liberal arts schools to
research universities, and today I do not think it is true for
more than a dozen or two dozen in our whole country.
That is the only thing that is really going to change the
pipeline and assure that the panel that we just heard from is
going to have the future language speakers that we need to
protect our country.
In conclusion, I want to depart from my written statement
just a little bit because your Subcommittee is focused also on
the District of Columbia. Twenty blocks from here my daughter
runs a clinic, a pediatric clinic under a federally qualified
health clinic.
They have had over 600,000 patients visits last year and 95
percent of her patients' language is mainly Spanish. When she
went to medical school she realized that what she needed more
than learning chemistry, biology, and physics, if she was going
to be an effective doctor in your National Health Service
Corps, was to be able to speak to patients in their own
language and in this case it was their first language Spanish.
I agree that more language for diplomacy and national
security will help make our world a less dangerous place but I
also think sometimes learning another language helps our
citizens right here at home to live in a safer and more secure
world.
Thank you very much for your support of both programs.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Dr. Goodman.
Dr. Davidson, please proceed with your statement.
TESTIMONY OF DAN E. DAVIDSON, PH.D.,\1\ PRESIDENT OF AMERICAN
COUNCILS FOR INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION AND ELECTED PRESIDENT OF
THE JOINT NATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR LANGUAGES
Mr. Davidson. Thank you very much, Senator Akaka, for the
opportunity to appear before you today. It has been my honor to
serve as the Elected President of the Joint National Committee
for Languages for the last 4 years.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ The prepared statement of Mr. Davidson appears in the appendix
on page 106.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The foreign-language profession in the United States is in
a strong position to address the needs that have been so
articulately and eloquently spoken today by our colleagues from
DOD, ODNI, State, Justice, Education, the foreign affairs
community and American business.
If we are to meet the demands of keeping the peace around
the globe as called for by Secretary Panetta, of engaging
audiences and institutions around the world as envisioned by
President Obama and Secretary Clinton and also detecting the
intentions and preventing the actions of those who would do us
harm, as the National Security Agency (NSA) Director Michael
Werthheimer has stated, then what is needed is a citizenry and
a government workforce that includes substantial numbers of
persons professionally fluent and culturally literate in the
major languages and cultures of the world.
Research shows that professional level knowledge of
language is highly sensitive to cultural signals and cues, of
understanding not only what people say but also how they use
language to communicate, to modulate meaning, to conceal
values, or communicate their intentions and their aspirations,
to build rapport with one another, to persuade, to negotiate,
to establish trust, or fail to establish trust, as the case may
be.
Information transfer, is a relatively minor part of
communication if you look across the mass of communicated
elements that we have; the cultural component is what is
central. It is specific to each language, not something
generically ``global,'' and here I differ a bit from one of the
comments made earlier today. It can be very hard to discern,
especially if you have never set foot outside the
``greenhouse'' or a classroom in this country.
We, in the foreign-language field, therefore, salute yours
and the U.S. government's decision to raise the bar for
language designated positions across agencies to Level III. But
the real answer for scaling up the system and delivering
speakers, readers, and analysts in major world languages and
cultures to the new level required by the government is to
begin that training as far upstream as we can take it, as you
have said today, with an extended sequence in the K-12 system,
periodic opportunities for full immersion in the target
culture, continued advanced and content-oriented study in the
university and a strong language maintenance strategy for the
Federal and civilian work corps employees.
Thanks to the National Defense Education Act (NDEA) of a
half a century ago, the United States has been able to maintain
a core capacity in the university level in for foreign language
and areas studies for most world areas through Title VI and
Fulbright-Hays both of which have been unfortunately reduced by
40 percent over the past 2 years alongside the outright
elimination of FLAP which you have commented on.
This is movement in the wrong direction which we hope can
be addressed by the Administration and Congress as soon as
possible.
On a more positive note, in the post 9/11 era, initiatives
arising from the defense, foreign affairs, and intelligence
communities notably National Security Language Initiative,
which builds on Title VI and Fulbright-Hays, specifically aims
at helping address the new mandate for high level language and
culture across the sectors of the economy.
And, here I simply want to mention programs that are making
a big difference in the foreign-language field right now on the
ground. The STARTALK program funded by NSA is running high
quality stateside summer programs, 159 different programs in 10
languages in 48 States and the District of Columbia. It is
making a big difference even though it has not been out there
very long.
The State Department is investing more than $30 million a
year in the National Security Language Initiative for Youth
(NSLI-Y), Critical Language Scholarships (CLS), and related
teacher programs supporting critical language study for more
than 1,500 American university, college, and high school
students a year.
The NSLI-Y program, for example, is open to any student in
the country and has a remarkable level of language achievement
even for the short period that it works. Similarly the CLS
program has done the same thing for the undergraduate students.
The final point I want to make is the National Security
Education Program's Flagship Program because, while it has some
very promising K-12 pilots in place, it has totally reinvented
the way that foreign languages are taught today in our
universities, setting three as the logical outcome for a series
of programs and training models that do not even require the
undergraduate learner to be a major in that field.
Together the NSLI group and those supported by Title VI and
Fulbright-Hays are low cost, high quality, proven models that
we believe are scalable. They are working in a few places right
now. They could work in a lot of places with the same level of
success.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much for your statement. Mr.
Lawless.
Mr. Lawless. Yes, sir.
Senator Akaka. What are some of the barriers U.S. companies
face when attempting to enter overseas markets and how does the
process of localization assist companies in accessing and
succeeding in these markets?
Mr. Lawless. Right. There is a difference between
translation and localization. Localization is the cultural
adaptation of products or services to the target country.
To give you an example, if you buy a Japanese car, you buy
it here in the United States, you sit on the left even though
it was produced in Japan where you sit on the right because you
have left-hand traffic.
So, you need to adapt your product. You need to adapt your
user manual. You need to adhere to local laws and regulations.
So that is the process of localization. It goes far beyond just
translation, although translation is a most important part of
localization.
The question that you asked about the key challenges for
U.S. companies to enter markets. That really depends on the
organization. It starts very often with what they do not know
how to put a document into translation.
But most likely, and that resonates with what was said by
the previous panel, it is lack of executive awareness; and if
more executives understood that almost 50 percent of their
income comes from overseas, they would pay more attention.
I gave an example with Apple Computer. Apple Computer last
year made $108 billion of revenue, 60 percent of that was
generated abroad. Facebook's international revenue grew from 33
percent in 2010 TO 44 percent in 2011. Wal-Mart international
sales in the last quarter of last year rose by up to almost 9
percent whereas the U.S. business slipped by half a percent.
If more executives really understood that language is the
key enabler for their success and for their ability to survive,
they would not have a lot of middle managers in their companies
that struggle to get a localization budget.
Thank you.
Senator Akaka. Thank you, Mr. Lawless.
Dr. Goodman, as you mentioned in your testimony, you served
on the Council on Foreign Relation's Task Force on U.S.
Education Reform and National Security, which concluded that
short falls in U.S. education raise national security issues.
Will you please explain how the Task Force came to that
conclusion?
Mr. Goodman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
We began with the horrifying statistic which was 75 percent
of our young people today are unqualified or disqualified from
military service.
That was a number that shocked really all of us. Some are
unqualified because of their educational background, some
because of persistent health problems, and some because of
obesity which we know is a major problem in America.
So, we tried to zero in on the part of that population that
at least we could fix and that was through education and what
we tried to get agreement on and got a substantial amount of
agreement was that America needs a core curriculum as about 20
States and 20 Governors have now accepted.
What surprised me the most was I thought I would have to
fight very hard for a foreign language requirement to be
considered essential and to be considered core. I did not have
to at all.
People on the task force really realized that it is our key
to understanding the world that we share, to preparing
Americans for global life and global work, and getting ready to
enter national service whether it is in the security or
diplomatic Everest.
So, we believe in a core curriculum. We believe in foreign
language, and we also believe in a readiness audit that helps
establish the dialogue and then the coordination that you are
concerned about among academia, the private sector, and also
government.
So, when we know where the gaps are, we can fix them.
Senator Akaka. Yes. Mr. Lawless and Dr. Goodman, the Task
Force's report discussed the reality of cyber espionage against
business and government information systems.
Would you explain why foreign languages are important to
cyber security?
Mr. Lawless. Yes. Right now we see an explosion of content
on the Internet, only 20 percent of that content is in English
so the rest I guess is not English.
There is also a huge increase in what we call user-
generated content through blogs and other social media sites.
So, if you want to analyze what is out there, if you want to
understand what other people say about you as a company or
about us as a Nation, then speaking those languages but also
understanding these languages in the current context and the
context of the culture is absolutely crucial.
Senator Akaka. Dr. Goodman.
Mr. Goodman. Thank you, Senator.
Dan mentioned in his testimony that language conveys values
and sometimes it conceals intentions and we need people skilled
at understanding both. I think to me the same is true in the
cyber security area.
The Internet is an English-speaking world a lot, not
exclusively, and it is being used by people with many different
values and many different intentions, and so, I think part of
our recommendation of the task force to focus on this is to try
to understand those people who are speaking English using the
Internet and have intentions that are very different than the
ones we associate with simply sharing more information.
Senator Akaka. Thank you.
Dr. Davidson, your testimony notes that there is a general
lack of knowledge of how to develop and implement language
training from early childhood, and you recommended using the K-
12 Flagship model to build a pipeline of proficient language
speakers.
What key elements from this program can be emulated by
schools across the Nation?
Mr. Davidson. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for that question.
I think the lessons of Flagship are that best practices are
out there in the field. Flagship did not sort of create a bunch
of mystical new ways of learning language but rather it
mobilized the best thinking in the field and stood back with a
certain perspective and said how can we do all of this better
and in a consistent way.
I think in terms of the Federal role in the Flagship model,
it is a very clever one in the sense that it does not attempt
to purchase a turnkey shop of some kind but rather looks at
those limited points of leverage along the way where a Federal
boost can make the difference in whether a program survives or
a student is motivated or the progress in learning that
language is suitably advanced.
For example, never to forget the importance of the teacher,
the investment in the teacher. It is maybe not as sassy as a
headline but the teacher is critical to this process. Another
really strong lesson we have learned is that the overseas study
piece or the summer intensive study piece can fit into a
curriculum without doing damage to everything else.
In fact, if you do it well, then you can actually pursue
part of the major requirements later on, harking back to
Allan's point about requirements. Those requirements can
actually be continued overseas in the setting in a direct
enrollment model.
So, I think the key to Flagship really is mobilizing the
best practices which are out there now, the standards, the
outcomes. The field has its act together in that sense, and
then looking at those points of leverage, like the summer, like
the capstone where a little boost from an external funder can
make it all come together.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Dr. Davidson.
My next question is for the panel. I would like to give you
all an opportunity to provide any final statements or comments.
I know you have lots to say about foreign languages.
Mr. Lawless. Yes. Well, thank you very much for giving us
the opportunity to testify to you and the Subcommittee.
As an industry association, we represent the majority of
people that actually produce that work that generates $2.1
trillion in revenue. And, we would really welcome the
opportunity to cooperate with the previous panel and this panel
because we have all the same challenges and I would like to
note, as I only realized that after my testimony, that the
entire first panel left the room before the second panel began.
So again, thanks again for the invitation and I am looking
forward to more conversation hereafter. Thank you.
Senator Akaka. Thank you. Dr. Goodman.
Mr. Goodman. Thank you, Senator. I simply hope that this
Subcommittee and its exercise of government oversight will
continue to focus on the very issues you have identified since
9/11, the need for our country to be able to speak other
languages to operate effectively in the world, the role that
academia places in that, the role of the private sector plays
in that, the role that the government plays in that.
So, I hope that the spirit of these hearings will very much
continue. Thank you.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much. Dr. Davidson.
Mr. Davidson. Mr. Chairman, I would like to second what
Allan just said about the importance of these hearings and the
way you have been able to focus public attention over time to
this very important need inside our government.
I think the good news is that models are there that we can
make a difference and those models are scalable. We mentioned
Title VI. We mentioned the State Department programs and we
mentioned the NSEP and the Flagship and STARTALK. These are
excellent models that do not have to be reinvented and they are
operating in 150 places or 12 places or in 24 places. It would
take so little to double that number. The marginal difference
in the cost would enable those models to be generalized and
disseminated more broadly in the country. Thank you.
Senator Akaka. Thank you.
Well, I want to thank you so much for your responses, and
of course, the statements. It will be helpful to this
Subcommittee. We look upon you as key partners, and together we
can use your expertise to improve our country's language
capacity.
We are a diverse country. We have the languages. We just
have to use it well and make sure we train our people well to
serve in that capacity. So, thank you very much. We appreciate
your presence.
Now, I would like to ask our third panel to please come
forward. I want to welcome the third panel.
We have Shauna Kaplan, a fifth grade student at Providence
Elementary School in Fairfax County, Virginia.
Ms. Paula Patrick, Coordinator of World Languages, Fairfax
County Public Schools.
Ms. Michelle Dressner, a 2010 Participant in the National
Security Language Initiative for Youth Program.
Mr. Jeffery Wood who was also a 2010 participant in the
National Security Language Initiative for Youth Program.
And, Major Gregory Mitchell, a 1995 Fellow for the David L.
Boren Fellowship Program.
As you know, it is the custom of this Subcommittee to swear
in all witnesses. So, I ask you to please stand and raise your
right hands.
Do you swear that the testimony you are about to give to
this Subcommittee is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing
but the truth so help you, God?
Ms. Kaplan. I do.
Ms. Patrick. I do.
Ms. Dressner. I do.
Mr. Wood. I do.
Major Mitchell. I do.
Senator Akaka. Thank you.
Let it be noted in the record that the witnesses answered
in the affirmative.
Before we start, I want you to know that your full
statement will be made a part of the record and I would like to
remind you to please limit your oral remarks to 3 minutes.
So, Shauna, will you please proceed with your statement.
TESTIMONY OF SHAUNA KAPLAN,\1\ A FIFTH GRADE STUDENT AT
PROVIDENCE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, FAIRFAX COUNTY, VIRGINIA
Ms. Kaplan. [Speaking in Chinese].
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ The prepared statement of Ms. Kaplan appears in the appendix on
page 121.
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I just said in Chinese: Hello everyone. My name is Shauna.
I am 11 years old. I am in fifth grade at Providence Elementary
School. I like Chinese class very much because Chinese class is
fun.
Senator Akaka. Xie xie.
Ms. Kaplan. I have been taking Chinese since the 1st grade,
which was the first year it was taught at my school. My Chinese
teacher is Ms. Yuan, who has been my teacher all 5 years. There
is a second Chinese teacher at my school, Ms. Su, who is
teaching my little sister.
I really like learning Chinese. Class is a lot of fun
because we learn using a lot of games and activities that
include everyone in the class and teach us new things. My
regular teacher, Mrs. Pratt, told me she works with Ms. Yuan so
that sometimes they are teaching about the same things at the
same time. This year, when we learned about ancient
civilizations in Mrs. Pratt's class, Ms. Yuan taught us about
ancient China and different dynasties while we were learning
Chinese. I like that they go together. Sometimes we even do
math in Chinese.
I want to keep learning Chinese. I want to be fluent in
Chinese. I would like to visit China, and I want to be able to
talk to the people there. I also like showing people in
Virginia how I have learned Chinese, like when I count in
Chinese the number of things we ate at my favorite dim sum
restaurant. The people working there were very surprised that I
could count in Chinese.
Thank you for helping Fairfax have Chinese classes. I also
want to thank Ms. Yuan for being such a great teacher, all the
people who help her, and my mom and dad who encouraged me to
learn Chinese and to work hard in school, and even my sisters
who also got to take Chinese. I am very excited to be here
representing them, all of Providence Elementary School, and
Fairfax City. [Speaking in Chinese.]
That means: Thank you everyone. I am happy to speak some
Chinese today. Learning Chinese is not hard. You also can learn
Chinese. [Applause.]
Senator Akaka. Xie xie, Shauna.
Ms. Patrick, will you please proceed with your statement.
TESTIMONY OF PAULA PATRICK,\1\ COORDINATOR OF WORLD LANGUAGES,
FAIRFAX COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Ms. Patrick. Yes, Mr. Chairman. Mahalo.
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\1\ The prepared statement of Ms. Patrick appears in the appendix
on page 123.
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Fairfax County public schools is the 11th largest school
division in the country with approximately 175,000 students.
The school division prepares students with the necessary skills
that are desperately needed in the Federal workforce, national
security, and on the economic front by providing a variety of
language offerings to students in kindergarten through 12th
grade.
Funding provided by the Federal Government allowed Fairfax
to implement Chinese and Arabic programs that would not have
been implemented otherwise. Some policymakers simply felt these
languages were too challenging for elementary students. Federal
startup funding made it possible to implement Chinese and
Arabic where district funds were not available.
Once policymakers could see the success of the language
programs, they gladly provided funding to ensure students could
continue the languages through high school and have since
expanded Chinese and Arabic to additional sites.
The Foreign Language Assistance Program grant addressed the
need of studying the critical needs languages. The funding
provided a firm foundation for language study that ultimately
increased the number of students learning Chinese and Arabic
and provided them the opportunity to become proficient in these
critical needs languages.
Prior to the grant in 2005, we had 125 high school students
learning Chinese and we had 162 students learning Arabic. Today
we have a little over 5,000 students in elementary, middle, and
high school learning Chinese and we have over 1,000 students
learning Arabic.
Our fifth grade students are now connecting sentences to
convey meaning orally as well as in writing using characters
and Arabic script.
The FLAP grant awarded in 2006 actually funded projects at
every level. With the funding, we developed a virtual online
Chinese language course for the Virginia Department of
Education which allows more students the opportunity to learn
Chinese not just in Fairfax County but throughout the
Commonwealth of Virginia.
We developed an electronic classroom that broadcasts
synchronous Arabic courses to Fairfax County high school
students attending schools that do not have sufficient
enrollment to offer Arabic. We also developed Chinese programs
in the Fairfax high school pyramid which gives students in
grades 1 through 12 an articulated program of study and we
supported Chinese and Arabic programs at eight additional
elementary schools and four high schools by providing
professional development and materials. We also partnered with
Georgetown University and George Mason University for student
mentoring, seminars, guest speakers, and summer language camps.
We now have ample research that proves what all other
countries have known for a long time. We must start language
learning at an early age when the brain is most receptive to
language acquisition. Mastering a foreign language takes time,
sequential study and practice. When language supervisors
propose starting a language program, they are often denied due
to already stretched district and State budgets. Policymakers
view them as a want and not a need for students. Federal
funding is the only way we can initiate programs that will
prove to the taxpayers and policymakers that the money is well
spent once people can see what these children can do with a
second language. We do not know what the world will be like in
20 years but we do know we cannot say that we are educating our
students for the 21st Century if we are not giving them the
tools they need to protect the country and to keep America the
superpower it is today.
In closing, I would like to say that Fairfax County public
schools is thankful for the Federal funding that we received
and 6,000 Fairfax County students studying Chinese and Arabic
are thankful too.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Ms. Patrick.
Ms. Dressner, please proceed with your statement.
TESTIMONY OF MICHELLE DRESSNER,\1\ 2010 PARTICIPANT IN THE
NATIONAL SECURITY LANGUAGE INITIATIVE FOR YOUTH PROGRAM
Ms. Dressner. I have always been an adventurer. I enjoy
puzzles, exploring, and learning new things. These qualities
led me to apply for the National Security Language Initiative
for Youth (NSLI-Y).
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\1\ The prepared statement of Ms. Dressner appears in the appendix
on page 125.
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I studied Russian in high school for 2 years. I decided
that the ideal way to get to the next level in Russian language
was through immersion. So, in my senior year of high school, I
applied for NSLI-Y, a scholarship funded by the U.S. Department
of State through the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs
and Administered by American Councils for International
Education. When I won a semester NSLI-Y scholarship to study in
Nizhniy Novgorod, Russia, I was ecstatic. However, I had no
idea how significantly this experience would change my
perception of culture and language as well as shape my
educational and career aspirations.
During my time in Russia, I lived with a host family. On my
first day, they were unsure of how to behave around me, how to
speak to me, and even how to feed me. Bread? Pancakes? Soda?
What do Americans eat for breakfast?
Unfortunately, my ability to communicate was limited to
prepared phrases I learned in high school and at my program
orientation. I knew how to say hello, goodbye, please, thank
you, and very tasty. Well, ``very tasty'' was helpful with the
food issue. However, I felt unable to communicate my emotions
and learn more about the family kind enough to keep me as their
guest. I wanted so badly to speak to them and tell them how
grateful I was for their generosity and hospitality. My host
family made my reason for language learning personal and
emotional.
My goal to communicate in Russian was achieved through
practice speaking with my family, practice around the city, and
my studies at the Nizhniy Novgorod Linguistics University.
There our professors, Natalia and Svetlana, put an
extraordinary amount of effort into teaching us Russian.
Through their teaching, I quickly became able to express
myself. My host mom was delighted when I asked her about her
day and told her about the poem I was reading, all in Russian.
My new friends, professors, and host family inspired me.
After returning from Russia, I was confident not only that
I wanted to study Russian in college, but that I wanted to
pursue a career involving Russia and international relations.
In 2014, I will graduate from Smith College with a double
major: Economics and Russian Civilization. I hope to work in
public service for either the U.S. Department of State, a
sector of the Federal Government, or a nonprofit organization.
By pursuing a career involving public service and Russia, I
know that I will be working in a field that I am passionate
about, and it is through NSLI-Y that I discovered my passion
for Russian studies.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for this opportunity and I would
be happy to answer any questions.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Ms. Dressner.
Mr. Wood, please proceed with your statement.
TESTIMONY OF JEFFREY WOOD,\1\ A 2010 PARTICIPANT IN THE
NATIONAL SECURITY LANGUAGE INITIATIVE FOR YOUTH PROGRAM
Mr. Wood. NSLI-Y is a federally funded program by the U.S.
Department of State that has allowed me to do unimaginable
things. Without the support from NSLI-Y, I would not have been
granted the opportunities that I have experienced such as going
to Beijing, China twice in my lifetime along with speaking in
front of you all today.
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\1\ The prepared statement of Mr. Wood appears in the appendix on
page 128.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Additionally, I would not have pursued learning the Chinese
language. This program highlighted the importance of language,
especially the Chinese language and how learning the language
can benefit me and others.
Prior to graduating from high school, I had no interest in
learning another language. As a student who attended Roosevelt
High School in Washington, DC, my opportunities were very
limited. However, during my 10th grade year, I was granted an
opportunity that changed my life forever. After much convincing
from my AP government teacher, I applied for the Americans
Promoting Study Abroad program (APSA). I figured this would be
a way to view the world outside of my local periphery. But I
took a chance and it paid off. I was offered the opportunity to
study abroad in Beijing, China for 6 weeks to study Chinese
language and culture.
I am forever grateful that NSLI-Y's funding granted me the
opportunity to go to China. As a student who had never been on
a plane prior to going to Beijing, this was a life-changing
experience. I appreciate that Americans Promoting Study Abroad
targets students that live in underrepresented communities
across the Nation because that is where dire attention needs
focus now. It is not just the students who can afford these
opportunities that are deemed ``globally aware'' because of
their travel experiences, but also through the lenses of
students like me, and ones in underrepresented communities
because every student deserves a global experience.
Since my experience, I decided to pursue a future career in
the Foreign Service, working either in an international
development organization or intergovernmental organization/non-
governmental organization (IGO/NGO). I recently finished my
freshman year at George Mason University where I am pursing a
double major in Global Affairs with a concentration in
international development and a major in Chinese. I am also
currently in the Chinese language buddy program at my college
where you chat and build relationships with native Chinese
citizens that come to study at Mason. I would have probably
pursued a career very different from the one I am pursuing now
if I did not go to the program.
These types of programs are very necessary for the
development of our future young generation because without
them, we have very limited views on the world. As the United
States becomes more diverse, more interactive, more developed
technology-wise, we have to understand that the only barrier
that we have to break through is communication, especially
through languages such as Chinese.
Improving the foreign language capacity of the Nation is
crucial to the United States' success over this lifetime. In
order to become powerful, we have to learn to adapt and learn
new knowledge. Through language and immersion, you achieve both
requirements.
Thank you for your time and I am happy to answer any
questions that you have.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Mr. Wood.
Major Mitchell, please proceed with your statement.
TESTIMONY OF MAJOR GREGORY MITCHELL,\1\ A 1995 FELLOW FOR THE
DAVID L. BOREN FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM
Major Mitchell. Chairman Akaka, I thank you for the
opportunity to discuss my experiences as a Boren Fellow and the
impact the program has had on my career as an Army Officer.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ The prepared statement of Mr. Mitchell appears in the appendix
on page 130.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Before entering the Army, my Boren Fellowship afforded me
the opportunity to spend a semester at the American University
in Cairo's Arabic Language Institute. It was an experience
which significantly shaped my decision to enter the military
and has significantly impacted my career as an Army officer
specialized in the affairs of the Arab world. I have served a
total of 48 months in the Middle East as both a combat arms
officer and a Foreign Area Officer. Throughout my career I have
leveraged my Arabic language training to build partnerships at
the tactical, operational, and strategic levels with our
partners in the region. I have studied Arabic in a variety of
venues, to include the Foreign Service Field School in Tunis,
Tunisia; Princeton University; and my Alma Mater Washington
University in St. Louis. However, it was the semester I spent
in Cairo as a Boren fellow where I laid the groundwork for a
high degree of spoken Arabic proficiency.
I first put my Arabic language skills to work in 2003 when
I served in al Anbar province with the 3d Armored Cavalry
Regiment. My commander understood the valuable role I could
play in the unit's efforts to build rapport with local Iraqi
officials and he placed me in charge of the Squadron's
government support team. The rapport I built in cities such as
Fallujah and Habaniya saved American and Iraqi lives and helped
my unit develop a successful counterinsurgency strategy.
In 2004, I took command of a tank company in the 3d Armored
Cavalry Regiment and trained my men for a second tour beginning
in April 2005. Because I could speak Arabic, my commander again
placed me in a unique role partnered with an Iraqi Army
battalion on the outskirts of Tal Afar in Ninewa Province. Our
tour was very successful and our partnership with our Iraqi
battalion was recognized as one of the strongest American-Iraqi
tactical partnerships at that time. With my Arabic, I was able
to plan and execute tactical operations with my Iraqi
counterparts without an interpreter. I have the National
Security Education Program to thank for that.
Because of my Boren fellowship, I came to the Army with a
unique skill set that I have leveraged to build and strengthen
important tactical and strategic relationships with our
partners in the Middle East. Boren Fellows and National
Security Education Program alumni like me are currently serving
across the Department of Defense and other governmental
agencies. We arrive at the Federal workplace language enabled
and regionally astute, ready to address complex problems and
build lasting partnerships across the globe.
And, sir, I want to thank you for your continued interest
in this very important capability. Thank you.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Major Mitchell.
Shauna, when I was a youngster my dad spoke Chinese and
Hawaiian in Hawaii, but at that time people thought it was bad
for children to learn multiple languages. So, my parents did
not teach me. As a matter of fact they said speak English.
You are very lucky because now we understand that it is
good for students and very important for our country to teach
foreign languages. My question to you is: What do you like most
about learning a different language and what made you want to
learn it?
Ms. Kaplan. What I like most about learning Chinese is how
it is taught to us through activities but still learning. I
guess my parents inspired me to learn another language because
I was already learning one because of my religion, and I just
like learning more about the other cultures and ideas that
inspired me to learn Chinese.
Senator Akaka. I see. Did you have an opportunity to go to
a Chinese community or to China?
Ms. Kaplan. Not yet, but I am hoping to when I am older to
go to China and learn more about the culture and their way of
life.
Senator Akaka. As you know, there are different dialects in
China. When I said my father spoke Chinese, he spoke Cantonese.
So, it is a little different from the major language now in
China.
Thank you very much for your responses, Shauna.
Ms. Patrick, I am impressed with your achievements in
educating young students in foreign languages and I would like
to say mahalo, thank you, to you as well.
Ms. Patrick. Thank you.
Senator Akaka. Do you know how often students continue
their language study after they finish your program and how the
program has influenced their career goals?
Ms. Patrick. I think the key is when you start language
learning at an early age, students do not really look at it as
being a difficult language or really even an academic subject.
They look at it as a communicative tool and we now have all of
our language lessons that are related to content. So, they are
using language to problem solve in the area of math, science,
and social studies.
And so, to continue on as you heard today, it just seems
like the natural next step. You are learning the language to
sixth grade, you continue on through seventh until you hit the
higher levels of proficiency which we are seeing in our
students.
The students, it is interesting, we do not encourage them
to only think of two languages. We want this to be the
foundation of multiple languages.
So, sometimes we see our students take on even another
language in middle school or high school and continue on with
two or three languages in college. So, I think because we are
developing that fearlessness of language, they are also more
encouraged to continue with the language at the higher level of
education.
Senator Akaka. Thank you.
This question is for Ms. Dressner, Mr. Wood, and Major
Mitchell. How has learning a foreign language and about a
different culture shaped your perspective about the world we
live in? Ms. Dressner.
Ms. Dressner. Well, I feel that learning a language and
learning about the culture is critical to language learning in
general because it gives you a basis for understanding and you
can really connect more to the language and have a reason for
continuing to learn the language. And, I believe that is
growingly important in this day and age when the world needs
language speakers and needs people to be able to communicate
cross culturally. Thank you.
Senator Akaka. Thank you. Mr. Wood.
Mr. Wood. I think that it allows me to think outside of my
own stereotypes that I had prior going. I think learning a new
language and about their culture allows me to learn about the
language and the people that are within the culture as the
people and what they do and how they interact with each other,
and it allows me to see them as, I guess I can explain this, it
allows me to interact with them in a way where I could not have
before if I did not learn their language; and with their
language, it helped me develop a relationship with them.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much. Major Mitchell.
Major Mitchell. Yes, sir. I think that language is sort of
the hard science of understanding people who come from
different paces than oneself. I find it emphasizing the common
things between things that are common to myself, to my peers in
the Army, and to people that we work with.
Learning a language helps you to emphasize those common
factors as human beings. So, I am a big advocate, maybe a
language determinist in the sense that I think a lot of the way
we think is done in language.
So, if I want to know another way of thinking about a
topic, to learn to do that in a different language gives me a
different perspective. So, I am a big advocate of language
training.
Senator Akaka. I should tell you that I am a World War II
veteran; and during that time, I served in the Pacific; and at
that time, our country used our Japanese citizens to deal with
the Japanese. And so, they became a part of what I call
military intelligence service (MIS).
But it is claimed that there were out there in the Pacific
during that period of time and because of the language they
were able to shorten World War II by years. So, even at that
time language made a difference.
And, I knew some interpreters for General MacArthur who
served in the Philippines as well as in Japan after the war. I
learned from them that their language speaking ability really
made a difference with the Japanese and they were able to help
stabilize the government at that time even to the point where
it helped to bring Japan about so that it could become, as it
has, one of the top industrial Nations.
So, the language skills of our citizens makes a difference.
I am so glad that we are moving in that direction. But I want
to be sure we have adequate resources and programs to help
bring this about.
This is why we have you here on our panels. Everything you
have said will be part of the record and will demonstrate the
importance of these programs.
So, I would like to say thank you to our witnesses for
being here today. It is clear that we have made good progress
to improve our Nation's language capabilities. However, as you
know, more work remains to be done.
I look forward to working with the Administration and my
colleagues in the Senate to make sure we have robust language
capabilities and you are helping us to do that.
The hearing record will be open for 2 weeks for questions
other Members may have. Again I want to say mahalo. Thank you
so much for your responses and your statements.
This hearing is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 4:47 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
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