Mr. President. I rise today to request full funding for the Foreign Language Assistance Program (FLAP), which has been cut from the President's FY2003 budget and for the National Security Education Program's (NSEP) National Flagship Language Initiative. These two programs would enhance the foreign language capabilities of this nation at a time when foreign language proficiency plays a critical role in maintaining our national security. The security, stability, and economic vitality of the United States depend on American citizens knowledgeable about the world. To become so, we need to encourage knowledge of foreign languages and cultures.

Unfortunately, the United States faces a critical shortage of language proficient professionals throughout federal agencies. The inability of law enforcement officers, intelligence officers, scientists, military personnel, and other federal employees to decipher and interpret information from foreign sources, as well as interact with foreign nationals, presents a threat to their mission and to the well being of the nation. It is crucial that we invest in programs like the Flagship Initiative and FLAP in order to strengthen the security of the United States.

While the General Accounting Office has highlighted the federal government's deficiency in personnel with foreign language proficiency, the entire country became aware of this problem after the events of September 11th, when FBI Director Robert Mueller called on English-speaking Americans with professional level proficiency in Arabic and Farsi to help with the translation of documents for the ensuing investigation. To address this need, Senators Durbin, Thompson, and I introduced S. 1799, the Homeland Security Education Act, and S. 1800, the Homeland Security Federal Workforce Act. These proposals are designed to improve educational programs in science, mathematics, and foreign languages and then attract graduates possessing these critical skills to the federal government.

However, these legislative initiatives cannot succeed if the foundations on which they are based are not supported. Moreover, while these initiatives go a long way to help agencies recruit those possessing these critical skills, we need programs like FLAP and the Flagship Initiative to create a larger talented and proficient applicant pool to address the growing foreign language needs in the national security community.

NSEP was created in 1991 by the David L. Boren National Security Education Act (P.L. 102-183) and administers three programs to enhance foreign language education: undergraduate scholarships for study abroad, graduate fellowships, and grants to U.S. institutions of higher education. As part of its grant program, NSEP intends to implement a National Flagship Language Initiative. The Flagship Initiative would establish national and regional language programs in universities throughout the nation. These institutions would in turn educate significant numbers of graduates, across disciplines, with advanced proficiency levels in those languages critical to our national security.

The Flagship Initiative is designed to address the urgent and growing need for higher levels of language competency among a broader cross-section of professionals, particularly for those who will join the federal workforce. The goal is to produce students with professional proficiency in critical foreign languages. Professional proficiency is considered to be at least a level 3 proficiency in listening, reading, and speaking where an individual is capable of speaking with sufficient structural accuracy and vocabulary to participate effectively in most formal and informal conversations on practical, social, and professional topics.

However, current foreign language programs in the United States, both federal and academic, at best, aim toward 'limited working proficiency' which is defined as level 2. This skill level includes the ability to satisfy routine social demands and limited work requirements and handle routine work-related interactions that are limited in scope. Level 2 proficiency is generally insufficient for more complex and sophisticated work-related national security tasks.

While programs like the Flagship Initiative would make significant improvements in the country's language capabilities, university-level training alone will not meet the challenge currently before us. We must also take steps to address what foreign language experts have recommended for years - start early. The Foreign Language Assistance Program (FLAP) initiates, through competitive grants, foreign language study at the elementary and secondary level - when students have the best chances of developing the strongest language proficiencies as adults. Eliminating funding for FLAP would be a disservice to the nation. We would have contributed to the lack of foreign language proficiencies at a time when the government needs people with those skills the most.

Both FLAP and NSEP have suffered from inadequate funding over the past few years. Funding for FLAP was $14 million in FY 2002, but the program has never received funding resembling that which was anticipated at its inception – $35 million.

NSEP receives funding from the National Security Education Trust Fund. Under the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for FY 1992, the NSEP trust fund received $150 million. Since then, more than $80 million from the trust fund has been transferred to other federal projects and only $8 million has been appropriated for NSEP projects each year. The trust fund is now valued at $43 million. This amount alone cannot support both NSEP's current programs and the innovative Flagship Initiative.

NSEP has conducted a survey of universities and has found a number of them willing and qualified to participate in this program. I am pleased to say that the University of Hawaii has been designated a likely flagship school due to the strength of its faculty and curriculum. However, in order to implement this program, approximately 10 national flagship programs and three regional flagship programs will be required. It is estimated that full implementation across a wide array of languages will require an investment of at least $20 million per year.

I urge my colleagues to support full funding of FLAP and the Flagship Initiative.