The Defense Department needs to develop a more thorough strategic plan for organization and implementation of its foreign-language training effort, according to a June 19 report by the Government Accountability Office. DoD has “made progress in transforming its language and regional proficiency over the last five years,” the GAO report stated. But the department needs a more detailed plan of determining where language deficiencies exist, how they should be addressed, and how progress should be measured, according to the report stated. “Not all [language] objectives are measurable, linkages between these goals and DoD’s funding priorities remain unclear, and DoD has not identified the total cost of its planned transformation efforts,” the report stated. “Without a complete inventory and a validated methodology, DoD cannot effectively assess risk and make informed investment decisions in its language and regional proficiency capabilities.”
