[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 103 (Thursday, July 25, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1366-E1367]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           INTRODUCING FOREIGN LANGUAGE TRAINING LEGISLATION

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TIM ROEMER

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 24, 2002

  Mr. ROEMER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce, along with my 
distinguished colleagues, Representatives Jim Gibbons, Mike Castle, and 
Silvestre Reyes, important legislation that strengthens our commitment 
to train students in foreign language proficiency, particularly 
languages that are of high national security interest to the United 
States such as Arabic, Farsi, and Hindi.
  Since the tragic events of September 11, 2001, the federal 
government's deficiency with regard to the availability of experts 
proficient in

[[Page E1367]]

foreign languages and knowledgeable of cultures of national security 
interest has been exposed. This shortage of federal employees fluent in 
foreign languages is a major obstacle towards our objective of winning 
the war against terrorism. FBI Director Robert Mueller has underscored 
this concern through a public plea for Americans who are proficient in 
Arabic and Farsi to offer their services to the federal government.
  This legislation takes great strides toward addressing the federal 
government's foreign language deficiency concerns by expanding and 
strengthening the National Security Education Program (NSEP) at the 
Pentagon. A stronger commitment to the NSEP by Congress will serve to 
increase the quantity and proficiency level of federal employees with 
expertise in the languages and cultures of countries critical to U.S. 
national security.
  Nearly 80 federal agencies require professionals proficient in 100 
foreign languages to deal with a wide range of threats, as well as to 
advance our diplomatic, commercial and economic interests worldwide. As 
a recent GAO study reported, technology advances that result in the 
collection of growing amounts of information and greater U.S. 
involvement in global activities have made it difficult for government 
agencies to meet their language requirements. This failure has been 
damaging to our nation's security. In hearings before the Senate 
Government Affairs Subcommittee on International Security, 
Proliferation and Federal Services one year prior to the terrorist 
attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, government officials 
testified that language deficiencies had compromised U.S. military, law 
enforcement, intelligence, counter-terrorism, and diplomatic efforts. 
Yet, despite this demand for language expertise, only eight percent of 
American college students study a foreign language--a statistic that 
has not changed in 25 years.
  The funding increase incorporated in this proposed legislation for 
NSEP will be used to increase the number of scholarships and 
fellowships for language and area studies that the program makes 
available to U.S. college and university students who commit to federal 
employment in a national security position as a condition of their 
award. The funds will also allow NSEP to quickly establish programs at 
major U.S. universities designed to produce professionals proficient at 
the advanced level in languages, such as Arabic, Farsi, Hindi, Turkish, 
Russian, Japanese, Chinese and Korean--all critical to U.S. national 
security. These programs will not only be available to NSEP award 
recipients but to other students and government employees who want to 
enhance their language proficiency. The $10 million increase in FY 2003 
will supplement $8 million in annual trust fund expenditures currently 
incurred by the program.
  NSEP has been highly successful in encouraging American students to 
pursue language and cultural studies in world regions critical to U.S. 
interests and helping those students find national security positions 
in the federal government. Since its creation in 1991, NSEP has awarded 
nearly 2,300 scholarships and fellowships for study of more than 35 
languages in nearly 100 countries. About one in three to four awards 
are made to students in the applied sciences, and nearly three-quarters 
of NSEP award recipients fulfill their service requirement by working 
in positions at the Departments of Commerce, Defense, Justice, State, 
and Treasury, in the intelligence community, at NASA or USAID; and in 
the Congress. Given this impressive performance and the federal 
government's growing demand for language expertise and cultural 
knowledge, an expansion of the NSEP program is an essential, creative 
and cost-effective investment in our nation's future security.
  Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, Congress must be proactive in this war on 
terrorism by resolutely addressing the federal government's foreign 
language deficiencies. Strengthening our commitment to proven foreign 
language education programs like the National Security Education 
program is an excellent start. I strongly urge my colleagues to review 
and cosponsor this important foreign language training legislation.

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