All Air Force Academy cadets will be required to study foreign language beginning with the fall 2007 semester. Lt. Col. Scot Allen, deputy department head for foreign languages, told the Daily Report yesterday the Academy is now offering Portuguese in addition to the four “strategic” languages (Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, Russian, and Japanese) and three Western languages (French, Spanish, and German) already in the curriculum. This is the first new language to be added in 30 years. A year ago, academy superintendent Lt. Gen. John Regni met with DOD personnel chief David Chu and pledged that the Air Force Academy would increase its foreign languages curriculum. The academy has even extended the newfound language requirement to its engineering and science majors, who previously were exempt. Allen said academy officials worked with Secretary of the Air Force’s international affairs office to choose Portuguese, which he said has strategic value in South America and Africa as well as Portugal. Similar language pushes are taking place at the other service academies, and the Pentagon just last month announced implementation of its new civilian Language Corps.
This year’s Association of the United States Army’s annual meeting buzzed with talk of countering the rapidly evolving drone threat facing the entire U.S. military, including the Air Force. Leaders and defense industry officials discussed the need for new approaches to procurement and employment of a new class of these…
