Pentagon creating civilian Language Corps to help in times of war, emergencies

[BY]By Pauline Jelinek
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon is setting up a civilian Language
Corps, a cadre of some 1,000 foreign-language speakers who can help
the government in times of war and national emergencies.

    In a three-year pilot program, the Defense Department will
recruit volunteers and do testing to see if such a program would
work. If successful, a permanent corps could be developed, said
Robert Slater, who heads the Pentagon personnel office's security
education program.

    "The federal government can't possibly identify, hire and
warehouse professionals with skills in 150 languages," Slater said
Wednesday. "So it's invaluable to be able to respond in
emergencies, whether international or national."

    The global war on terror has made the U.S. military and other
government agencies aware of their shortage of people who speak
Arabic and other languages. Officials have been working to beef up
bilingual staff, and President Bush a year ago launched an
initiative to promote education in foreign languages important to
national security.

    The new Language Corps would be a pool of people who could be
called upon to help in humanitarian crises at home or overseas, as
well as in wars if they volunteer to do so.

    The languages to be included in the pilot have not been chosen,
but will depend on what exercises are developed to test the
program. For instance, a scenario could be developed to practice
how such a corps would respond to an earthquake in Pakistan or a
disaster in the Philippines, meaning languages spoken there would
be involved in the pilot.

    The department also announced late Tuesday the award of four
grants totaling $2 million to four U.S. universities to teach
cadets and midshipmen foreign languages including Arabic, Russian,
Pashto, Chinese, Hindi and Farsi.

    The universities getting the grants are Indiana University, San
Diego State University, the University of Mississippi and the
University of Texas at Austin.

    "The department's goal is to expose ... cadets and midshipmen
to the study of languages and cultures of the world critical to
national security," said David S.C. Chu, under secretary of
defense for personnel and readiness.

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    AP-WS-05-09-07 1622EDT