War on Terrorism:
House Committee says

Wednesday, October 10, 2001

In the wake of the tragic events of September 11, the National Foreign Language Center (NFLC stands ready to assist the media with its understanding of the role US language capability plays in national security.

In support of the September 26 report of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, stating that language is the single greatest need in the intelligence community, NFLC's Director, Dr. Richard Brecht, has made it a priority for his senior staff to answer question ranging from how intelligence personnel are trained in esoteric languages rarely taught at US schools and colleges to the role government plays in establishing public policy to promote the study of foreign languages in the schools.

Experts at the NFLC published a report in August 2000 calling for increased investment in the language capacity of the US, in order to avert potentially disastrous consequences to our national security. Now, says Brecht, "the events of September 11, and our actions in Afghanistan against terrorism, make clear that we can no longer ignore our linguistic unpreparedness."

Dr. Brecht sees the events of the last several weeks as an opportunity to raise public and congressional awareness of the role language training plays in the nation's security. "the situation with regard to critical languages hasn't changed for decades. We must act now ? we can no longer afford business as usual," stated Brecht.

Harvard-educated Brecht is the co-author of Language and National Security in the 21t Century, a scholarly report written with NFLC Associate William Rivers. Available through Kendall-Hunt Publishers, the report details the connection between language and national security, with emphasis on the 80 agencies of the federal government with language requirements.

In addition to Dr. Brecht, other key NFLC staff members are available to provide commentary and analysis to members of the media:

• NFLC Senior Associate Gerald Lampe is a leading scholar of the Arabic language, and an expert on the learning of Arabic in the US and abroad. A translator, interpreter, and consultant for the US Department of State, public and private organizations, and the White House, Lampe has been actively involved in the development of pre-college programs in Arabic and other less commonly taught languages for more than two decades.
• NFLC Associate William Rivers is an expert on the role of language in the US government and on the statistics concerning language study in the US. Trained as a specialist in Russian linguistics and language policy at the University of Maryland, Mr. Rivers recently spent six months in Kazakhstan conducting research on language policy and ethnic identity in Central Asia.

Founded in 1986, The NFLC is the nation's only think-tank dedicated to improving national capacity in foreign languages. The NFLC, located in Washington DC, is a unit of the University of Maryland, and is supported by state, federal, and foundation contracts and grants.