CIA Director Leon E. Panetta to Host Foreign Language Summit

Central Intelligence Agency Director Leon E. Panetta will host a foreign language summit on December 8, 2010, bringing together policymakers, members of Congress, Intelligence Community officials, and language educators to explore how government and academia can better collaborate to advance the study of foreign languages.

The summit, cosponsored by the University of Maryland’s Center for Advanced Study of Language (CASL), will begin at 9:30 a.m. at the University of Maryland/University College Marriott Inn and Conference Center in Hyattsville.

Director Panetta has made strengthening foreign language expertise at the CIA a key objective of CIA 2015, the Agency’s strategic plan.  His language initiative aims to double the number of analysts and collectors who are proficient in foreign languages and increase by 50 percent the number of CIA officers with the right language skills serving in jobs that require foreign languages.

Summit participants will discuss ways of expanding foreign language proficiency, strategies and best practices for language instruction, and the potential benefit of new technologies.

Director Panetta and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will deliver keynote addresses.  Other scheduled speakers include:  Senators Barbara Mikulski and Benjamin Cardin of Maryland, Ambassador Patrick Kennedy, Under Secretary of State for Management, and Clifford Stanley, Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness.

Members of the press are invited to attend the summit’s morning session at the University of Maryland/University College Marriott Inn and Conference Center, 3501 University Blvd., E. Hyattsville, MD 20783.  The session will conclude with a question and answer period for summit participants.  The afternoon sessions are for summit participants only and will be closed to the media.

Members of the press who are interested in attending the morning session should RSVP to Christy Teufel – christyt@ucia.gov – by 5 p.m., Tuesday, December 7th.