Developing Operationally-Proficient Linguists: It's About Time

摘要

September 11th, 2001, served as a harsh wake-up call for America and especially for the U.S. Intelligence Community. Among the intelligence shortfalls within the Department of Defense (DoD) was the lack of foreign language capabilities. The United States is long overdue in building a national framework that addresses foreign language and cultural illiteracy and develops the professional-level expertise capable of performing tasks critical to national security and economic prosperity in the 21st century operating environment. Time is the most critical factor in developing professional-level linguists. Policies and programs for language learning which center on time-on- task will bring the DoD and government agencies responsible for national security and economic development much closer to the goal of achieving a sufficient number of language professionals. This paper offers strategic policy recommendations geared toward developing operationally-proficient language professionals. These recommendations include challenging the nation toward greater foreign-language proficiency, establishing a national foreign-language framework, immigration reform, putting technology in its proper place, and leveraging the potential of the Reserve Component.