Stephanie Brown/The Hoya Congressman Rush Holt (D-N.J.) details his plan to improve national security by encouraging study of Arabic, Farsi, Korean and Pashto in White-Gravenor on Tuesday night.
U.S. Congressman Rush Holt (D-N.J.) came to Georgetown Tuesday night to address students on his new bill, the National Security Language Act, and the importance of communication with other languages so that American security does not become “lost in translation.”
Holt introduced the bill in December 2003 to ensure that more students will be able to speak languages fluently in areas that are currently critical to national security.
“Even if you have good language proficiency, you will be hampered by others who don’t,” Holt said, noting that Georgetown’s reputation as a leader in language programs influenced him to address the students on this issue.
“You may have heard of the Sputnik revolution,” Holt said, as he addressed students in White-Gravenor. He explained how during the Cold War, the Soviet Union’s space advancements had forced the United States to pay greater attention to math and science education. Congress eventually passed the first National Education Act, making the nation the leader in scientific research in the world.
“We are faced with a similar responsibility today,” he said, “as a national deficiency in language and cultures is compromising our security interests, making our troops abroad more vulnerable, and making Americans less safe.”
Holt explained how his new bill will use the current crises to educate Americans, using increased funding to expand instruction in such languages as Arabic, Farsi, Korean and Pashto, languages that are currently deemed as critical languages in the intelligence community.
“As a nation, the United States carries many responsibilities, but we are currently at a disadvantage when trying to communicate with such regions as the Middle East,” Holt said, alluding to the fact that the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq was compromised because of the language factor.
Advocating the increased use of language schools across the nation, Holt noted that language training is at least as important as small-arms training.
The Congressman explained that the United States is taking appropriate action by stepping up recruitment efforts, increasing language education programs, and having the CIA pay bonuses to those who speak critical languages, “but these changes only scratch the surface of what is a fundamental language problem,” Holt said.
Drawing from various statistical studies, Holt also noted how the intelligence community only has a 30 percent readiness in languages critical to national security, and that only 54 workers in the foreign service speak Arabic.
As an answer to the current problems of national security facing America, Holt drew the main provisions of the National Security Language Act, which include an international flagship initiative for intensive in-country study, including grants of as much as $400,000 per language studied.
The bill will also include science and technology foreign grants and loan forgiveness for undergraduates who become teachers of a foreign language, in addition to encouraging earlier foreign language study programs.
“We will also create a program to identify already-existing linguists who are scattered around the country. A federal marketing campaign would educate speakers about their abilities, so that they have the possibility of serving as reservists,” Holt said.
Holt explained that this bill only serves as a beginning step toward attacking the problems of communication and national security.
“We will be better off, economically vital, culturally rich and personally fulfilled if we have a better understanding of these languages and cultures,” he said.
The event was sponsored by the Georgetown University College Democrats.
