The Department of Defense has announced plans to improve
foreign language and cultural expertise among military and
civilian members, partly aimed at improving the overall
language ability in the officer corps and making it a factor
in general officer promotions.
The initiative relates to goals to “create foundational
language and cultural expertise in the officer, civilian
and enlisted ranks for both active and reserve forces,” to
scale this capacity as needed, and “establish a cadre of
language specialists with advanced levels of proficiency,”
DoD said.
It said the “defense language transformation roadmap”
addresses findings by a defense science board “on transition
to and from hostilities,” and entails the following:
revising policy, doctrine and planning guidance to improve
hiring and development of those with advanced language
skills; developing a process to determine language
requirements based on tracked capabilities; putting
incentives in place to retain bi-and-multilingual military
and civilian personnel; requiring junior officers to
complete language training and expanding study-abroad
programs and experiences in foreign countries; and,
establishing foreign language ability criterion for
general and flag officer advancement, all to be
implemented over time. The roadmap is available at:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Mar2005/d20050330roadmap.pdf
