Language school enters 66th year ‘more critical’ than ever
From: http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-2419200.php
December 15, 2006
Language school enters 66th year ‘more critical’ than ever
Staff report
Secretary of the Army Francis Harvey speaks with instructors from Afghanistan who teach the Dari and Pashto dialects at the Defense Language Institute. Mustafa Mustafa, left, Safi Sahib and Nasir Rhami are wearing the native dress of their home country. The institute's foreign language center marked its 65th anniversary Nov. 8. — Defense Language Institute
Born just one month before the anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the military’s premier language training center took on a key role in the war on terrorism, according to Secretary of the Army Francis J. Harvey.
Referring to the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center’s mission, Harvey said the institute “is perhaps more critical to the success of ongoing military operations” than ever in its 65-year history.
The institute, located at the Presidio of Monterey, Calif., celebrated its 65th anniversary Nov. 8 by inducting 10 prominent linguists into its newly established hall of fame. Harvey, along with Gen. Bryan Brown, commanding general of U.S. Special Operations Command, participated in anniversary activities.
The institute, which annually teaches 24 languages to 3,500 Army, Marine, Air Force and Navy students, dates to November 1941 when the Fourth Army Intelligence School was established at San Francisco to teach Japanese to American soldiers of Japanese descent.
Brown said that when it comes to language training, the institute “is the bright spot in the Defense Department, and quite frankly the entire United States. The ability to maintain this world-class language training school over the past 65 years, often with austere budget constraints, has simply been remarkable.”
Following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States, the institute quickly established a new language department, the Enduring Freedom Task Force, for teaching the Afghan dialects of Dari and Pashto.
Today that department has evolved into the Emerging Languages Task Force for developing and teaching courses in strategically important languages.
The institute’s Hall of Fame inductees are:
• Retired Air Force Col. William P. Fife. Known as the father of airborne intercept in the Air Force, Fife set the standard for the employment Air Force linguists that continues this day.
• Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Rick C. Francona. An Arabic translator for Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf during the Persian Gulf War, Francona later became a diplomat and is today a military analyst for NBC News.
• Shigeya Kihara. One of the institute’s founders, Kihara began teaching Japanese at Crissy Field, San Francisco, in 1941 using orange crates as tables. He graduated thousands of students during his 33-year career.
• Retired Army Maj. Gen. Roland Lajoie. The military diplomat dealt with the Soviet Union and its post-breakup countries for more than 30 years. He also served as the deputy assistant to the secretary of defense for cooperative threat reduction.
• Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Doyle E. Larson. He developed the Air Force’s career linguist program.
• Hugh G. McFarlane He designed the military linguist program for the National Security Agency.
• Retired Army Col. David A. McNerney. The institute’s former commandant initiated a major construction program at the school while developing a faculty personnel system and Foreign Language Proficiency Pay.
• Glenn H. Nordin. Nationally known as an advocate for universal language education and employment, Nordin is also called the “conscience of language” in the Pentagon.
• Leon E. Panetta. A former congressman who also served as White House chief of staff during the first Clinton administration, Panetta was instrumental in capital improvements to the institute and a driving force behind the National Security Education Program.
• Whitney E. Reed. A former commandant of the National Cryptologic School, Reed was instrumental in bringing computer technology to language training.
December 15, 2006
Language school enters 66th year ‘more critical’ than ever
Staff report
Secretary of the Army Francis Harvey speaks with instructors from Afghanistan who teach the Dari and Pashto dialects at the Defense Language Institute. Mustafa Mustafa, left, Safi Sahib and Nasir Rhami are wearing the native dress of their home country. The institute's foreign language center marked its 65th anniversary Nov. 8. — Defense Language Institute
Born just one month before the anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the military’s premier language training center took on a key role in the war on terrorism, according to Secretary of the Army Francis J. Harvey.
Referring to the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center’s mission, Harvey said the institute “is perhaps more critical to the success of ongoing military operations” than ever in its 65-year history.
The institute, located at the Presidio of Monterey, Calif., celebrated its 65th anniversary Nov. 8 by inducting 10 prominent linguists into its newly established hall of fame. Harvey, along with Gen. Bryan Brown, commanding general of U.S. Special Operations Command, participated in anniversary activities.
The institute, which annually teaches 24 languages to 3,500 Army, Marine, Air Force and Navy students, dates to November 1941 when the Fourth Army Intelligence School was established at San Francisco to teach Japanese to American soldiers of Japanese descent.
Brown said that when it comes to language training, the institute “is the bright spot in the Defense Department, and quite frankly the entire United States. The ability to maintain this world-class language training school over the past 65 years, often with austere budget constraints, has simply been remarkable.”
Following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States, the institute quickly established a new language department, the Enduring Freedom Task Force, for teaching the Afghan dialects of Dari and Pashto.
Today that department has evolved into the Emerging Languages Task Force for developing and teaching courses in strategically important languages.
The institute’s Hall of Fame inductees are:
• Retired Air Force Col. William P. Fife. Known as the father of airborne intercept in the Air Force, Fife set the standard for the employment Air Force linguists that continues this day.
• Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Rick C. Francona. An Arabic translator for Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf during the Persian Gulf War, Francona later became a diplomat and is today a military analyst for NBC News.
• Shigeya Kihara. One of the institute’s founders, Kihara began teaching Japanese at Crissy Field, San Francisco, in 1941 using orange crates as tables. He graduated thousands of students during his 33-year career.
• Retired Army Maj. Gen. Roland Lajoie. The military diplomat dealt with the Soviet Union and its post-breakup countries for more than 30 years. He also served as the deputy assistant to the secretary of defense for cooperative threat reduction.
• Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Doyle E. Larson. He developed the Air Force’s career linguist program.
• Hugh G. McFarlane He designed the military linguist program for the National Security Agency.
• Retired Army Col. David A. McNerney. The institute’s former commandant initiated a major construction program at the school while developing a faculty personnel system and Foreign Language Proficiency Pay.
• Glenn H. Nordin. Nationally known as an advocate for universal language education and employment, Nordin is also called the “conscience of language” in the Pentagon.
• Leon E. Panetta. A former congressman who also served as White House chief of staff during the first Clinton administration, Panetta was instrumental in capital improvements to the institute and a driving force behind the National Security Education Program.
• Whitney E. Reed. A former commandant of the National Cryptologic School, Reed was instrumental in bringing computer technology to language training.
posted by Nana @ 15:43
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