Newsweek – Michael R. Pompeo
In the 1950s, during the early stages of the Cold War, the Eisenhower administration created programs to train thousands of professors, analysts and policymakers in Russian language skills. Decades later, after the September 11th terrorist attacks, the United States established the National Security Language Initiative, which enhanced students’ fluency in Arabic, Persian and more. In both cases, Washington understood that foreign language proficiency is critical to understanding the intentions of nation-states—a crucial factor in determining the proper mix of cooperation, containment and deterrence that enables the United State to advance its interests abroad.
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