The National Security Language Initiative (NSLI) is a program introduced by

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese f ...

George W. Bush on January 5, 2006 at the U.S. University President's Summit to develop the foreign language skills of American

students A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution. In the United Kingdom and most commonwealth countries, a "student" attends a secondary school or higher (e.g., college or university); those in primary or elementary ...

, especially in "critical-need" foreign languages such as

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...

, Chinese, Russian,

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of North India, northern, Central India, centr ...

, and Persian. The initiative was given $114 million in

fiscal year A fiscal year (or financial year, or sometimes budget year) is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes. It is also used for financial reporting by businesses and other organizations. Laws in many ju ...

2007 and $26.6 million in 2008 to expand programs from

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cent ...

level to

universities A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ...

. Schools were additionally awarded $750 million for critical language education. The program is a part of multiple programs promoted by the Department of State's

Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) of the United States Department of State fosters mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries around the world. It is responsible for the U ...

(ECA), such as the

Fulbright Program The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

, the Gilman Program, and the Critical Language Scholarship Program. The

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington, D.C., NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. preside ...

has noted in 2011 that ECA alumni number over one million globally, including over 50

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and over 300 current or former

heads of state A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and ...

History

NSLI was launched in 2006 by

United States President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

George W. Bush as a means to strengthen national security and expand

intercultural dialogue Intercultural dialogue (ICD) "occurs when members of different cultural groups, who hold conflicting opinions and assumptions, speak to one another in acknowledgment of those differences".Leeds-Hurwitz, W. (2014)"Intercultural dialogue" ''Key Concep ...

. The languages sponsored by NSLI were described as "critical need" languages for

international diplomacy Diplomacy comprises spoken or written communication by representatives of states (such as leaders and diplomats) intended to influence events in the international system.Ronald Peter Barston, ''Modern diplomacy'', Pearson Education, 2006, p. 1 ...

. The program was awarded $114 million in 2007. From 2006 to 2008, NSLI's first three years in operation, the program offered study abroad opportunities in only

and

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language ...

. Around 1000 scholarships were awarded in total in those three years solely in a short-term summer program. Since then, NSLI has included 6 new languages as a part of its program:

Indonesian Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesia ...

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

, Tajiki Persian, Russian, and

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

. It has expanded its programs into a summer program and an academic year-long program. As of 2020, NSLI-Y has accumulated a student network of over 6,500 individuals.

Scope of the program

The initiative is coordinated by the

State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nat ...

Education Department An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

, Defense Department and the

Director of National Intelligence The director of national intelligence (DNI) is a senior, cabinet-level United States government official, required by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 to serve as executive head of the United States Intelligence Comm ...

. The National Security Language Initiative has three broad goals: expand the number of Americans mastering critical need languages and start at a younger age, increase the number of advanced-level speakers of foreign languages, increase the number of foreign language teachers and the resources for them. NSLI for Youth's summer and academic year

study abroad International students, or foreign students, are students who undertake all or part of their tertiary education in a country other than their own and move to that country for the purpose of studying. In 2019, there were over 6 million internat ...

programs are open exclusively to American

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students.

Reception

Alumni

In an Alumni Report conducted by NSLI-Y, 94% of alumni respondents reported the program as a positive experience in their educational careers and 99% labeled it as "the most or one of the most influential educational experiences in their lifetime." Additionally NSLI-Y reports a significant number of alumni attending or have attended prestigious

in the

and abroad, in addition of over 100 alumni having careers and internships in agencies of the United States

federal government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-govern ...

, particularly in the field of diplomacy and national intelligence.

Criticism

Several college leaders have expressed concern about how large of a role the

Pentagon In geometry, a pentagon (from the Greek language, Greek πέντε ''pente'' meaning ''five'' and γωνία ''gonia'' meaning ''angle'') is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple polygon, simple pentagon is ...

is playing in the initiative and, after the program was announced, the lack of details. Additionally, criticism was drawn when the program was first announced in a speech by Bush at the United States University Presidents Summit in 2007 when he described foreign language education as a means to "defeat erroristsin foreign battlefields so they don't strike us here at home." Bush's intentions were initially viewed as an offense strategy rather than to promote international

diplomacy Diplomacy comprises spoken or written communication by representatives of states (such as leaders and diplomats) intended to influence events in the international system.Ronald Peter Barston, ''Modern diplomacy'', Pearson Education, 2006, p. 1 ...

through intercultural dialogue.

References