National Security Language Initiative

[Harold F. Schiffman]

January 5, 2006

National Security Language Initiative

Briefing by Dina Powell, Assistant Secretary of State for Education and
Cultural Affairs and Barry Lowenkron, Assistant Secretary of State for
Democracy, Human Rights and Labor

President Bush today launched the National Security Language Initiative
(NSLI), a plan to further strengthen national security and prosperity in
the 21st century through education, especially in developing foreign
language skills. The NSLI will dramatically increase the number of
Americans learning critical need foreign languages such as Arabic,
Chinese, Russian, Hindi, Farsi, and others through new and expanded
programs from kindergarten through university and into the workforce. The
President will request $114 million in FY07 to fund this effort.

An essential component of U.S. national security in the post-9/11 world is
the ability to engage foreign governments and peoples, especially in
critical regions, to encourage reform, promote understanding, convey
respect for other cultures and provide an opportunity to learn more about
our country and its citizens. To do this, we must be able to communicate
in other languages, a challenge for which we are unprepared.

Deficits in foreign language learning and teaching negatively affect our
national security, diplomacy, law enforcement, intelligence communities
and cultural understanding. It prevents us from effectively communicating
in foreign media environments, hurts counter-terrorism efforts, and
hamstrings our capacity to work with people and governments in
post-conflict zones and to promote mutual understanding. Our business
competitiveness is hampered in making effective contacts and adding new
markets overseas. To address these needs, under the direction of the
President, the Secretaries of State, Education and Defense and the
Director of National Intelligence have developed a comprehensive national
plan to expand U.S.  foreign language education beginning in early
childhood and continuing throughout formal schooling and into the
workforce, with new programs and resources.

The agencies will also seek to partner with institutions of learning,
foundations and the private sector to assist in all phases of this
initiative, including partnering in the K-16 language studies, and
providing job opportunities and incentives for graduates of these
programs.


The National Security Language Initiative has three broad goals:


Expand the number of Americans mastering critical need languages and start
at a younger age by:

Providing $24 million to create incentives to teach and study critical
need languages in K-12 by re-focusing the Department of Educations Foreign
Language Assistance Program (FLAP) grants.

Building continuous programs of study of critical need languages from
kindergarten to university through a new $27 million program, which will
start in 27 schools in the next year through DODs NSEP program and the
Department of Education, and will likely expand to additional schools in
future years.

Providing State Department scholarships for summer, academic year/semester
study abroad, and short-term opportunities for high school students
studying critical need languages to up to 3,000 high school students by
summer 2009.

Expanding the State Department Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching
Assistant Program, to allow 300 native speakers of critical need languages
to come to the U.S. to teach in U.S. universities and schools in 2006-07.
Establishing a new component in States Teacher Exchange Programs to
annually assist 100 U.S. teachers of critical need languages to study
abroad.

Establishing DNI language study "feeder" programs, grants and initiatives
with K-16 educational institutions to provide summer student and teacher
immersion experiences, academic courses and curricula, and other resources
for foreign language education in less commonly taught languages targeting
400 students and 400 teachers in 5 states in 2007 and up to 3,000 students
and 3,000 teachers by 2011 in additional states.

Increase the number of advanced-level speakers of foreign languages, with
an emphasis on critical needs languages by:

Expanding the National Flagship Language Initiative to a $13.2 million
program aiming to produce 2,000 advanced speakers of Arabic, Chinese,
Russian, Persian, Hindi, and Central Asian languages by 2009.  Increasing
to up to 200 by 2008 the annual Gilman scholarships for financially-needy
undergraduates to study critical need languages abroad.  Creating new
State Department summer immersion study programs for up to 275 university
level students per year in critical need languages.  Adding overseas
language study to 150 U.S. Fulbright student scholarships annually.
Increasing support for immersion language study centers abroad.

Increase the number of foreign language teachers and the resources for
them by:


Establishing a National Language Service Corps for Americans with
proficiencies in critical languages to serve the nation by:

1. Working for the federal government; and/or

2. Serving in a Civilian Linguist Reserve Corps (CLRC); and/or

3. Joining a newly created Language Teacher Corps to teach languages in
our nations elementary, middle, and high schools.

This program will direct $14 million in FY07 with the goal of having 1,000
volunteers in the CLRC and 1,000 teachers in our schools before the end of
the decade.

Establishing a new $1 million nation-wide distance-education E-Learning
Clearinghouse through the Department of Education to deliver foreign
language education resources to teachers and students across the country.
Expand teacher-to-teacher seminars and training through a $3 million
Department of Education effort to reach thousands of foreign language
teachers in 2007.

2006/12


Released on January 5, 2006