explain an advocate u.s. policies, establish and maintain diplomatic platforms, build and maintain trust, and create relationships. in today's rapidly changing world, the need for these skills as never been more critical. in fact, we believe our country's future well-being as attorney depend on them. mr. chairman, thank you for the opportunity to address you today, and i would be happy to answer any questions. .> thank you very much dr. lawrence jr. -- let me begin by stating that defense secretary panetta has long believed that having a strong language ability is critical to national security. we are committed to building the most capable force we can deploy. our success is directly connected to our ability to communicate effectively with

local populations. our current challenge lies in building language positions. we have been reduced in this efficiency. studies show that exposure to foreign language and early line -- early language learning greatly facilitates language acquisition. bringing in individuals with foreign-language skills makes it easier to train people with higher levels of proficiency. this would make it easier for us to fill positions with appropriately qualified individuals. we are working to overcome these challenges with strategies to achieve our vision for language regional and cultural capabilities. this man's acquiring and sustaining language skills, the

but-this means acquiring and sustaining a language skills and -- this means acquiring and sustaining language skills. process cheese in able commanders to articulate -- these processes enable commanders to supply staff to meet their needs. we have sought innovative solutions, which include created a national security workforce pipeline, and hence in language training and sustainment, increasing -- increasing language training and sustainment. enhancing language careers is essential in retaining persons with foreign language skills. we are created multiple

regionally focused training initiatives and offering language training incentives. we recognize the need for partners. the department engages with federal agencies through the national security education board. it provides input on land which, regional, and cultural issues. language, original, and cultural issues. -- regional, and cultural issues. the service corps provides a pool of volunteers with proficiency in english and four land interests -- languages who can serve and operate as

temporary government employees were needed. we have made real progress in improving our language skills to meet the 21st century national security challenges. we have achieved much success, but we acknowledge much work remains. our village -- a our vision and strategy is designed to develop language capabilities. thank you for the opportunity to share the department's deval lummis in this area. >> thank you very much, dr.. octor. >> ms. north, you may proceed with your statement.

>> the directorate of intelligence language services department is responsible for the entire language program. they provide language services to the entire fbi. this includes language recruitment, training, and other foreign language functions at the fbi. the language services section provides that a controlled structure to ensure that our language resource base is aligned with priorities set by our operational division and with national priorities. the fbi relies on foreign language capabilities to accurately inform operations and enhance analysis. the success of the fbi's mission

is dependent on the ability to translate and analyze information in a timely manner. the fbi post of foreign language program has made great strides foreign-- the fbi's language program has made great strides. we have also significantly increased the range and volume of the foreign language training the fbi offers to personnel who need to develop language proficiency to do their jobs. programs include academic immersion training and language courses. we realize we are not able to address our foreign language needs with hiring and training alone. we also invest in the development of human technology tools. they provide the ability to process large body of of

information. -- volumes of information. we leverage other partners through interagency short-term, temporary duty assignment opportunities. we work with the national security education program national flagship university and the georgetown language speakers program to bring language- capable people into the contract linguists program when we have language needs to cannot meet with in-house language resources. we are able to provide a virtual language support for other intelligence community partners and four other agencies with foreign language challenges. -- and for other agencies with our language challenges.

more detail has been provided in my written statement. i also look forward to answering any questions you may have for me today. >> thank you very much. mr. nordin, would you please proceed with your statement? >> i am honored to act for spokesmen -- act as spokesmen for the national intelligence agency. i know this will be the last hearing of the subcommittee chaired by you, sir. we are indebted to you for your leadership in bringing world language study to a focal point in national dialogue. thank you. foreign-language capabilities

and a deep knowledge of the foreign-language infrastructure in geographic areas of interest to our national security are of paramount importance to be successful importance of the strategic and tactical intelligence missions of today. the complexity of the intelligence community's mission in today's world and the variety of nations and nine-state global actors -- non-state loebsack actors make it imperative that we possess a deep knowledge of their intentions along with a deep ability to communicate in their languages. professional language skills, cultural awareness and knowledge are important to the dissemination of intelligence information. the shift in real and perceived

threat -- perceived threats from 1992 to the present resulted in the increase of world languages that are essential in dealing with those threats. a sharp increase in our need for skills in the most -- least commonly taught languages led to shortfalls in the communities language work force. in order to meet the -- meet the needs of the dead, we engaged in contractor services, -- meet the needs of the day, we engaged in contractor services. he must have a military language work force of translators, interpreters, and language analysts capable of supporting our state needs and vetting the needs during surge.

we are able to sit nikki -- to significantly increase our skills. in order to retain our services, -- their services, we need to offer these professionals rewarding careers as language specialists. many tomorrows ahead will not replace the skills in processing foreign language. key technologies can facilitate the work process on the part of the language-equipped analyst. we advocate an increase in foreign language capabilities while facilitating and expediting their work through integration of state of the are

human language technology. together with the defense department leadership, we are exploring the feasibility and cost benefits of the professional coandcadre -- cadre serving the intelligence forces. research has shown the advantage of starting language lying at an early age, as was mentioned before. -- starting language learning at an early age, as was mentioned before. the intelligence committee will seek to capitalize on language education by targeting our recruiting and hiring the best and brightest products from programs currently sponsored under ic and other federal funding. we will continue to recruit and hire native speakers.

i see that my time has about expired. i would like to continue for another minute, sir. i would be remiss if i did not cite two activities by the intelligence community that have and will continue to have major impact on national language capability. first, the foreign language center that continues to produce professional language specialists from high school graduates. the center also provides worldwide online learning as well as maintenance and enhancement to all entities. second, the center for the advanced study of language, a university-affiliated center at the university of maryland. the center is charged with the way we teach multiple language through research word enhancing

and optimizing human cognitive skills. the work of the center is improving understanding of the languages of africa and asia. on behalf of the director, i thank you for this opportunity to address this important national issue. one final statement, sir. our language capability is an inherently government responsibility. the government must continue its investment in these precious, valuable tools for the national security. >> thank you very much, ms. north. dr. ochoa, you testified that foreign language skills are critically important to our national security.

12 anepartment's only k- eshoo tip -- the initiative, could lose out on finding by competing with other subjects and funding for the title sixth language programs. they have been significantly reduced since fiscal year 2011. how will you support the department's national strategy to develop globally competent students in light of these budget cuts. >> we have rolled that money into lump sum funding for k-12 to provide more flexibility and

more management in those programs. we are placing an emphasis on the development of global compotencies. its message we are transmiting is, in order to achieve -- the message we are transmiting is, in order to achieve the goals, we have to have a program to achieve those goals. as we move beyond the focus on map and english language competency to include other subjects, this will be -- on that and english language competency to include other subjects, this will be focused on. >> i would like to pose a question to the rest of the panel. how would cuts to education and

languish and international programs affect your efforts to build and maintain your department's language capabilities? >> thank you very much for that question. it is relevant to what we do in the state department in training our officers in language skills. it is more difficult to train people as adults than to bring them in with foreign language skills early on. it is our belief that young people who start language training as early as sixth or seventh grade, more prepared with the languages. we are spending about $250,000 for each position we are training people for. we are signing people for one year. we have one officer in the

position. we have one officer in the first year of training and one officer in the second year of training. if we brought those people in with the language skills, we would say that a lot of money up front with our officers. thank you. >> to build on the last set of comments, d.o.d. has built partnerships with the support of our national language partnerships with the state. we have made a lot of headway. this relies on the average doctor that was laid down by the department of education. -- the infrastructure laid down by be department of education. -- by the department of education. we value our partnership with the department of education.

>> ms. north? >> the fbi recruits from our communities out there. when every recruit -- wasn't we recruit from the community or from -- whether we recruit from the community or from education, we have u.s. citizens who have spent their lives here rather than overseas. that increases the ability of us to get them through their background quicker. for that reason, we appreciate -- we appreciate what the department of education is doing in that regard. >> we have a responsibility in our outreach programs from all of the arrow entities to go on and help the school boards and

the -- all of our entities to go out and help the school boards developed language education. that is a responsibility we all bear. >> as i mentioned in my statement, i believe coordination is key to addressing our language crisis. how is the department working with other federal agencies to make sure its programs are addressing our national security needs. >> mr. chairman, thank you. pursuant to the higher education opportunity act of 2008, the secretary of education receives recommendations on areas of national need for expertise in foreign languages.

the deputy assistant secretary for foreign language education and the senior staff serve as advisory committee members for the department of defense and the department of defense's title a -- title dealt -- title 8 program. the staff of our international education division works cooperatively department of commerce's western hemisphere office to plan seminars intended to give students an understanding of the binding and opportunities in international business education. we are -- understanding of the opportunities in international business education.

that group serves as a premier way for the federal government to keep abreast of the implementation of techniques and technology for language learning and other language- related activities. >> thank you. i would like to ask the rest of the paddle -- have now to answer this follow-up question. -- the rest of the panel to answer this follow-up question. discuss how your department has worked to coordinate federal language programs. >> thank you, again, for that question. we have a foreign service training institute. we make available places at the foreign service institute places for agencies to participate in

our language planning -- language training program. we think it is important, as our agencies -- embassies represent the platforms for all agencies overseas for people with language skills who arrived to fill their positions. it is key to have other agencies with individuals who have the requisite language training. >> dr. junor? >> this board was established in 1991 and has been meeting since 1994. it brings together about seven federal agencies. the national security agency

program has a main goal of establishing partnerships among the federal government, partnerships with federal and state entities and public- private partnership. s. we helped create state road maps for education. these road maps are an opportunity for individual states to work with our flagship institutions. they create a clearinghouse for best practices in providing language instruction to our kids. this pipeline flows through elementary school, high school, and our flagship colleges, where we provide several initiatives and grants to make sure that we are not only created oaks with an awareness of language, but some with that professional level of expertise.

we sponsor and immersive experience overseas. in doing so, that creates a better pool for d.o.d. and all of our federal partners to draw from. with dan d.o.d., we have several and it suggests. we have a -- within d.o.d., we have several initiatives. we already heard about our defense language institute to create classes or military members to come in and learn. some of the teaching devices available are also open to the federal partners. thank you. >> thank you. ms. north? >> we are collaborating through

the national virtual language center. this was created as part of the patriot act in 2001. in 2003, the fbi became the executive agent for this center. it has a virtual capabilities for the u.s. government and the intelligence community. they provide support for the intelligence community and for d.o.d. combatant commands. we have a facility in doha where they provide regional expertise. we are also a member of the interagency roundtable and the foreign language executive committee, which is an interagency committee where best practices are shared and different initiatives and the outcome of those initiatives. one of those is that the fbi

created a language quality program where all our products are quality control before they go out of the door. that became a best practice. that process and that the dallas -- methodology was shared with our partners. we are continuing to leverage the other ic partners as far as technology is concerned. we need to triage are collections faster and in a more expeditious manner. we hope this technology war -- will advance to a rate where we can use it on a daily basis and we can review that collection. that is a priority for us. >> mr. nordin?

r talk program allows teachers and students to be treated to a summer of study in the languages that they have. there are a number of community meeting places where we all get together. the ilr is a primary one, which is led by an employee of the army. that organization is doing just fine after 30 years. its work is added to by the executive committee, the state

department. it is a great host to this organization. you have the defense language committee, the security education program -- all of these things work together, sir. it is the most collaborative group of people that i have ever worked with. thank you. >> thank you. the question is for the four of you and for the national security agencies. d.o.d. has built only 28% -- has still to -- filled only 28% of the positions with language requirements. other agencies are struggling

with these positions as well. what challenges to your agencies based in recruiting and hiring people with language skills -- agencies face in recruiting and hiring people with language skills? >> thank you again for that question. we are doing well in selling our language designated positions -- in filling our language-designated positions. we feel we are doing a very good. we have done a lot of work over the past few years with the training flow we were able to develop. we hired over the past few years about 50% more so that we can put people in language training

while others are in the job. we are concerned as we approach the next year because we do not have been hiring flow treat we think we will only be able to hire to attrition. we need to encourage more hiring or get support and resources for more hiring to continue to have that training flow so we can continue to hire qualified people. >> thank you. ms. north? >> our first challenge is to try to improve the pool. we are teaching folks who come in their language capability. we have the defense language institute and that is creating an in-house cadre of line which speakers.

this is hard and it is expensive. it does serve its purpose. we are also using language training centers. to further improve, we are trying to improve how we use these folks. you may have seen recently that the army is creating regionally aligned forces. this will help us build expertise in other cultures as well as get service focal points for folks who speak those languages to go around the world and practice. over the last several years, we have been trying to expand how we use heritage speakers. we have the national language core that is about a hundred 96 languages at our disposal.

-- 196 languages at our disposal. we could not have created that from scratch and we are thankful for that. we also have the mapping program. these are methods for heritage speakers to serve as uniformed military members and served as in-house language and cultural experts. these folks have been critical to our efforts in afghanistan over the last 10 years. we have the defense language institute's english language center. that is to increase the language capacity of our partners. >> thank you. >> as i mentioned earlier, we have a workforce of over 1400. that is an 85% increase since 9/11. we are doing well in that

regard. we implement what we call a workforce planning model where we do targeted recruitment toward languages where there is a shortfall or an anticipated needs. our hiring goal is 90%. we are currently at 88%. we anticipate we will meet our fiscal year 2012 goal. we want a work force of contract linguists and analysts. we have decreased our applicant processing time. we are down to 10 months. the challenges we face in recruiting and hiring is the difficulty in finding those individuals who can pass the bar in test battery. they also need a full-scale background.

a lot of our material has to be submitted to a court of law for evidenciary purposes. we have a higher barsac for our language skills. we have been -- we have a higher bar set for our language skills. we are competing with everyone else at the table for those same resources. the way we mitigate those challenges is through recruiting players. we look at native and heritage communities. we advertise in foreign language newspapers. we put out press releases and we do in person events. we attend university hiring events. the intelligence committee has a career fair, which we also attend. we are able to provide employees with a limited amount of foreign

language incentive pay. if they have a language that is critical to our needs, we can reward them for that ability. we also leverage our ic partners through cross-community resource sharing. we closed interagency short-term temporary duty assignments. -- we host interagency, short- term -- interagency short-term, temporary duty assignments. >> mr. nordin. >> one of the difficulties we have had has always been the inability to take people away from the positions where they are actively using their language to send them off to school to learn their language

better or to do other jobs. we are appreciative of the training flow that was granted to the dni for a number of positions so that we can send these people off to get their enhancement training. the biggest difficulty we face is our leadership -- i cannot get to the names specifically -- the federal leadership is as on aware of the needs for language within their organizations -- unaware of the needs for language within their organizations as the general population is unaware for the need in their communities.

it is a national disgrace, sir. we need to find a way to communicate to our people just how important that the interpreter-translator at the social services level is to a community's well-being. that is our biggest education challenge, i feel. >> thank you, mr. nordin. dr. junor, you mentioned the national language corp. can you discuss how the agency needs before language needs? >> yes, sir. there are about 2200 members at

this point and about 500 more applicants. i mentioned before that this represent about 196 languages around the world. there is a national pool that looks like our in active reserves and a dedicated pool that looks like our active reserve. what this means is, it is truly thosee capacity for emerging needs that need to be filled. that dedicate pool represent a broad capacity for languages that are not commonly found. several geographic combatant commanders include -- commanders are regularly drawn from this period several of our -- drawn

from this. non-d.o.d.agencies include fbi, fema, irs, the centers for disease prevention and several individual states have drawn from the service corps. in a time of fiscal austerity, it is useful to point out we have been able to recapture some of the investments we have made in federal employees. a% of the federal service court previously had a robe backgrounds. we are -- the federal service corps. previously had a robe backgrounds. as word is getting around, we expect the demand for this

capability to increase. it is something we take seriously. >> thank you. let me ask my final question to the entire panel. what do you envision as the end goal for language capacity? what resources or authorities are needed to reach that goal? mr. ochoa, i would like to discuss the department's vision for language capacity. i would like the other witnesses to discuss language capacity within your departments. that is my question to the entire panel. that me begin with mr. ochoa.

>> thank you, senator akaka. we are trying to prepare the nation for the global 21st century society we are going into. as we outlined in our international strategy, that involves global competency in our citizens 3 -- our citizenry. an improved understanding of the world, greater effect business with our business dealings in other regions of the world, also greater understanding of the diversity in our own country as we draw from populations across the world. this is the kind of society we will be working in in the future. as we draw students from across the world, they represent an

untapped resource because they are bridges to resources all over the world. we are a nation that is defined by an idea that draws people from all over the world and has for the lifetime of our country. that is a powerful asset we have. preserving and expanding that cultural diversity and the language that people bring it is something that will stand us in good stead in the future. >> i have always felt the diversity of our country is a strained. that is part of the street. the-the diversity of our country is a strength. that is part of the -- the diversity of our country is a

strenth. >> we hope to recruit people with language skills when they come into the phone service so we are able to deploy them as quickly as possible to those areas of the world where they are required. we would like to be able to have these resources to continue to train them in their languages and improve their language skills so they are better able to negotiate for our government to help us prevent wars. this is a huge responsibility we have and we know we need people with language skills to carry out those responsibilities. >> thank you. dr. junor? >> we have the largest need of

language requirements in the federal government, and probably nationwide. these are profound needs. these are needs in some of the most difficult languages out there. the second reality is that, except for a gifted you, learning a language is hard. it is not something you do once and it is yours forever. you have to sustain that expertise throughout your career. with the fiscal realities being what they are, our goal is the further rents up a national partnership. we cannot meet -- the furth erance of a national partnership. we need to help k-12 keep that pipeline coming, practices on how to improve and sustain

language capability once they come in our door, and further partnerships with congress to help keep this pivotal national issue. >> thank you. ms. north? >> since 9/11, countered intelligence related matters with the fbi have increased significantly. we do not see that trend reversing. we think the trend will only continue to increase. the challenge for us is translating all the materials we collect. we are never going to be do that because of what we collect and the volume that continues to come in. we need to partner with our other agencies in the intelligence community and the civilian community so that we

have the resources we need to remain flexible so that we can meet those new and emerging threats as they appear. as years go along, the languages that are in demand are going to change. he cannot predict what those languages will be 20 years from now. we have to try our workforce for those languages 20 years into the future. to have our work force remained flexible so we can reconfigure our workforce and to work on the technology so that we can triage so that we can identify the speaker and identified the language and see what we can do to focus our analysts so that their work is more productive and knocked sifting through all the collections we have. >> thank you. mr. nordin?

>> i believe the director has laid a strategy of increasing the number of persons in the intelligence community who have command of other language, culture is, knowledge of the countries. they will add key technologies to critical point in our intelligence collections and analytic systems so that you facilitates and control the volumes of material that are being processed. there is no one solution to the problem. it lies in the nation understanding the need to far language -- need for foreign language in their daily lives. thank you. >> i want to thank this panel for your responses and your statements, of course. you have been very helpful.

i want to wish you well as we continue to increase the capacity and use the resources we have. there is another part to this, coordination. we need to look at other possible resources in other places that might be able to help as well. but you know this as well as i do. i want to wish you well and you are doing a great job. you still have been little more to do. i want to thank you for what you are doing and wish you well in your work. thank you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> in the next panel, the institute for national education. they discussed the role of teachers in studying abroad and the difficulty in foreign language training. this is about 30 minutes.

>> i want to well, mr. andrew lawless, a member of the localization -- a member of the globalization and localization association. also, i would like to introduce dr. allan goodman, a member of the council on foreign lead -- foreign relations task force and

president of the institute of international education. and dr. dan davidson, who is president of the council for international education, and president-elect of the joint committee for languages. it is a custom for this committee to swear in all witnesses. i will ask you to please rise and raise your right hand. do you swear that the testimony you are about to give this subcommittee is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you god. let it be noted for the record that the witness's answer in the affirmative.

before we start, i want you to know that your red -- your written statement will be made part of the record. please limit your oral remarks to five minutes. mr. lawless, please proceed with your statement. >> i would do so on behalf of the globalization and localization association. as an american citizen with a thick german accent and an irish last name, i feel especially motivated to speak to you today. the shortage of land which resources puts our economic security at risk. u.s. businesses exported about $1.50 trillion in goods and $600

billion in services last year. all of which depended on language services to sell and market to people who native language is not english. news, websites, movies, safety information, labeling, games, and customer support are all translate it everyday in over 500 major language pairs. we represented 190,000 jobs in north america last year. this does not count the pool of part-time and freelance linguists. there are american people who market, sell, deliver, and support u.s. products. the businesses they help may be

the most powerful forces in the united states today. without languages, the u.s. businesses would be missing $2.10 trillion in gross income. audiences create a growing need for language services. if you sell products in germany, your customers will communicate in german and your customer service personnel needs to be ready. you case -- u.s. companies must build language capabilities. acquiring land which takes time, repeated exposure and practice to develop. not relying on these needs has dire need sunday -- -- has dire

consequences on the u.s. economy. companies are relying on less qualified translators. this is rendering their products less competitive in the global marketplace. the american workforce needs more key compotencies such as terminology, localization technologies, engineering, and multimedia. these skills are in high demand and continue to be sought after. government agencies are addressing the needs for language competence. we need cooperation between the private sector, government, and academia. language technology companies promoting research in language activity in key areas such as emerging markets and cyber crime.

expanding education and career education and training specialized workers such as law enforcement officers and the intelligence communities in targeted skills. we are committed to educating our member companies to alleviate the crisis. we cannot do it on our own. we will need collaboration between translation service companies, government, and academia. we welcome the opportunity to expand on this testimony in more detail. we also appreciate the invitation from the previous panel to collaborate with the private sector. we are definitely open to that and that conversation. thank you for the opportunity to testify and i am happy to answer any questions you may have. >> thank you very much, mr.

lawless. dr. goodman, please continue with your statement. >> we and mr. the fulbright program on behalf of the department of state and the department of defense -- we administer the fulbright program on behalf of the state department and the department of defense. we had a bipartisan and mixed group. for a higher educator, what was the hearts of the recommendation was the call for a national readiness audit, which would help us understand the things that your statement and your questions and this committee has been asking about for a long

time. how prepared is the nation? at what labels -- levels are we teaching our citizens to have proficiency in another language? it is easy to forget just how many of our citizens are not connected to the world and do not get the chance to study in it. many people do not have a passport. it is the same percentage of those without a college education that cannot find iran on a map and believe south sudan is it in southeast asia or in south america. most americans who do study abroad go to a relatively few number of countries, many also english-speaking and they study abroad for a short period of time. the other thing we tend to forget -- except you and this

committee -- is that language learning in this country may be at the lowest level in our nation's history. only a% studying a foreign language. the-only 0 2% are studying -- only 8% are studying a foreign language. the federal programs that this committee has supported our quiet strategic in my the. the-in my -- in my view. they are diverse in terms of where students go. more than half are from minority groups in our society. a much different portfolio and

profile than the normal study abroad profile. they go for longer periods of time. this congress has made strategic investments in these programs and we are grateful. to move the needle, i am not going to ask for more money. american higher 100 years ago, that was true in every college in america. technical schools, liberal arts schools, research universities. today, i do not think it is true for more than two dozen in our country. that is going to assure the panel that we'd just heard from are going to have the future language speakers to protect our country.

in concluding, your committee is focused also on the district of columbia. 20 blocks from here, my daughter runs a pediatric clinic. they have had over 600,000 patient visits last year and 95% of the language is mainly spanish. she realized that what she needed more than learning chemistry, biology, or physics, if she was going to be an effective doctor was being able to speak in patients in their own language which was spanish. i agree that more language for diplomacy and national security will help make our world a less dangerous place, but i also think sometimes learning another language helps our citizens right here at home.

thank you very much for your support of both programs. >> thank you very much. dr. davidson, please proceed with your statement. >> thank you very much, senator, for the opportunity to appear before you today. the foreign language profession in the u.s. is in a strong position to address the needs that have been spoken about today from our colleagues. if we are to meet the demands of keeping the peace around the globe as called for by secretary leon panetta of engaging audiences and institutions are around the world as envisioned by president obama and secretary clinton and detecting the

intentions and preventing the actions of those who would do us harm, what is needed is a government work force that includes substantial numbers of persons professionally fluent and culturally literate in the major cultures of the world. research shows professional level knowledge of language is highly sensitive to cultural to modulateaccuse cues meaning, conceal values, or communicate intentions. to build rapport with one another, to persuade, negotiate, establish trust or fail to establish trust. information transfer is a relatively minor part of communication. the cultural component is what

is central. it is specific to each language. not something generically global. it is specific to each language and can be very hard to discern especially if you have never set foot outside a greenhouse or a classroom in this country. we therefore salute the decision to raise the bar of the language designated positions across agencies to level three. the real answer for delivering speakers to the new level required by the government is to begin that training as far upstream as we can take it. with an extended sequence of k- 12, full emergence, content- oriented steady at the university, and a strong maintenance strategy for the federal civilian work corps

employees. the u.s. has been able to maintain a core capacity at the university level for most world areas through title 6 which has been unfortunately reduced by 40% in the past two years. this is a movement in the wrong direction which we hope can be addressed by the administration and congress as soon as possible. in the post-9/11 era, initiatives are rising that build on title 6 as a decree aimed at helping addressed the new mandate for high-level language and culture across sectors of the economy. i want to mention the programs making a big difference right now on the ground. [no audio] -- 159 different programs, it 10

languages in 48 states and the district of columbia. the state department is investing more than $30 million a year in teacher program supporting critical language study for more than 1500 students a year. the program is open to any student in the country and has a remarkable level of language achievement even for the short period it worked. the final point i want to make is the national security education flagship program. while it has some promising pilots in place, it has totally reinvented the way that foreign languages are taught today, setting three as the logical outcome of a series of programs

and training models that do not even require the undergraduate lerner to be a major in that field. together, low- cost higher-quality models that we believe our scalable. they can work in a lot of places with the same level of success. thank you for the opportunity to comment. >> thank you very much for your statement. what are some of the barriers u.s. companies face when attempting to enter overseas markets and how does the process of localization assist companies in succeeding in these markets? >> and there is a difference

between translation and localization. localization is the adaptation of products or services to the targeted country. you buy a japanese car here in the u.s., use it on -- you sit on the left. you need to adapt your products and your user manual. you need to adhere to local laws and regulations. that is localization and it goes far beyond just translation. translation is the most important part of localization. what are the challenges for u.s. companies to enter market? that depends on the organization. it starts. often they do not know how to put a document into translation.

most likely, and that resonates with the previous panel, it is a lack of executive awareness. if more executives understood -- almost 50% of the income comes from overseas, they would pay more attention. i will give you an example with apple computer. apple computer last year of the $108 billion in revenue, 60% of that was generated abroad. 44% inok's revenue grew 2011. wal-mart's turned national sales rose by almost 9%. more executives understood that language is a key enable their for their success and ability to

survive, they would not have a lot of middle men in their company to struggle to get the budget. >> thank you. >> thank you. dr. goodman, as you mentioned in your testimony, you served on a council of foreign relations. yours, education reform and national security, which concluded that shortfalls in u.s. education raise national security issues. will you please explain how the onck force came to that c o lusion. >> thank you. we began with a horrifying

statistics. 75% of our young people today are disqualified from military service. that was a number that shocked all of us. some because of their educational background, some because of persistent health problems. some because of obesity which is a major problem in america. we tried to 0 in on the part of the population that we could fix, and that was through education. what we tried to get agreement on and got a substantial amount of agreement is america needs a core curriculum as many states have now accepted. what surprised me the most is i thought i would have to fight very hard for a foreign language requirement to be considered essential. i did not have to at all. people on the task force really

realized that is our key to understanding the world in which we share, to prepare americans for a global life and work, and getting them ready to enter national service. we believe in a core curriculum, foreign language, and also a readiness audit that helps establish the dialogue and the coordination that you are concerned about a month academia, the private sector, and government so we can fix the gaps. >> yes. mr. lawless and dr. goodman, the task force's report discussed the reality of cyber espionage against business and government information systems. would you explain why foreign

languages are important to cyber security? >> with the explosion of languages and the internet, only 20% of it is in english. the rest is not in english. there is also a huge increase in user-generative content through blogs and other social media sites. if you want to analyze what is out there, if you want to understand what other people say about you as a company or about us as a nation, then speaking those languages but also understanding them in the current context of a culture is absolutely crucial. >> dr. goodman? >> thank you, senator. dan mentioned in his testimony

that language conveys a values and sometimes conceals intentions. we need people skilled in understanding both. the same is true in cyber security. the internet is being used by people of many different values and intentions. i think part of our recommendation is to try and understand those people who are speaking english using the internet and have in tensions that are very different than the ones we associate with sharing more information. >> thank you. dr. davidson, your testimony notes there is a general lack of knowledge of how to develop and

implement language training from early childhood. you recommended using the k-12 flagship model to build a pipeline of proficient language speakers. what key elements from this program can be emulated by schools across the nation? >> thank you, mr. chairman, for that question. i think the lessons of flagship are that best practices are out there in the field. flagship did not create a bunch of mystical new ways of learning language. it mobilize the best training in the field. i think in terms of the federal role in the model, it is a very

clever one in the sense that it does not attempt to purchase a turnkey but looks at this limited point of leverage along the way where a federal boost can make the difference in whether a program survives or a student is motivated or the progress in learning that language is suitably advanced. for example, never forgetting the importance of the teacher, the investment in the teacher. the teacher is critical to this process. and another strong lesson we have learned is the overseas study piece of summer-intensive study peace can fit into a curriculum without doing damage to everything else. if you do it well, you can pursue parts of major requirements later on. those requirements can be

continued overseas in the setting in a direct enrollment model. i think the key to flagship is mobilizing the best practices that are out there now. and then looking at those points of leverage like the summer, the capstone where a little boost from an external thunder can make it come together. >> thank you very much, dr. davidson. my next question is for the panel. i would like to give you all an opportunity to provide any final statements or comments that you would like to make. i know you have lots to say about foreign languages. again, any final statements or

comments you would like to make. >> thank you very much for giving us the opportunity to testify to you and the subcommittee. we represent the majority of people that actually produce that work that generates $2.10 trillion in revenue. we would really welcome the opportunity to cooperate with the previous panel and this panel. we all have the same challenges. at this point, we are not really talking. again, thanks for the invitation and i am looking forward to more conversation here after. thank you. >> thank you. dr. goodman. >> thank you, senator. i simply hope this subcommittee

in its exercise of government oversight will continue to focus on the issues you have identified since 9/11. then need for our country to be able to speak other languages, the role of academia, the role of the private sector, the role that the government plays. i hope the spirit of these hearings will continue. thank you. >> thank you very much. dr. davidson. >> i would like to second what alan jsut said, about the importance of these hearings and the focus of this need inside our government. i think the good news is that the models are there. we can make a difference and those models are scalable. we mentioned title 6 and the state department programs and

the flagship and startalk. these are excellent models that do not have to be reinvented. they are operating in 150 places, 12 places, or others. it would be so easy to double those places to be disseminated more broadly in the country. >> thank you. i want to thank you so much for your responses and these statements. they will be helpful to this .ubcommittee and then w we look upon you as those who have been with this problem that we are facing together. we can use our information to try and improve it for our country. we are a diverse country. we have the language is here.

we just have to use them well and make sure we train our people well to serve in that capacity. thank you very much. we appreciate your presence. >> thank you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> the senate committee now hears from students who speak other languages. this is about a half hour. >> i want to welcome the third panel. i want to welcome shawna caplan,

a fifth grade student at providence elementary school in fairfax county, va.. ms. paula patrick, the coordinator of the languages for fairfax county schools. ms. michele drezner, a 2010 participant in the national security language initiative for youth program. ms. jeffrey wood who was also a 2010 participant in the national security of language and negative for youth program. and major gregory mitchell, a 1995 fellow of the david l. boren fellowship program.

it is a custom of this subcommittee to swear in all witnesses, so i ask you to please stand and raise your right hand. do you swear that the testimony you are about to give to this subcommittee is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you god? thank you. let it be noted in the record that the witnesses answered in the affirmative. before we start, i want you to know that your full statement will be made a part of the record. i would like to remind you to please limit your remarks to five minutes -- three minutes.

shauna, would you please proceed with your statement? >> [speaks foreign language] i just said in chinese, "hello, everyone. i like chinese class very much because it is fun. i have been taking chinese since the first grade. my chinese teacher has been my teacher all five years. there is a second chinese teacher at my school who is teaching my little sister. i really like learning chinese and class is a lot of fun because we get to play games and activities including everyone in

the class. my teacher says sometimes they are teaching about the same things at the same time. this year we learned about ancient civilizations and we were taught about ancient china and different dynasties while we were learning chinese. i like that they go together and sometimes we even do math in chinese class. i want to be fluent in chinese and i would like to visit china to be able to talk to people there. i also like showing people in virginia that i have learned chinese. the people working there were very surprised i could count in cheneys. thank you for helping a fairfax with chinese classes. i want to thank my teacher for being great and my mom and dad who encouraged me to learn chinese and even my sisters who got to take cheneys. i am very excited to be here

representing them. [speaks chinese] that means, "thank you, everyone. i am happy to speak some chinese today. learning chinese is not hard." [applause] >> ms. patrick, would you please proceed with your statement? >> yes, mr. chairman. fairfax county public schools is the 11th largest in the country. the school division prepares students with the necessary skills that are desperately needed in the federal workforce, national security by providing a variety of language offerings to

students in kindergarten through 12th grade. funding allows fairfax to implement chinese and arabic programs that would not have been implemented otherwise. some policy-makers felt these languages where too challenging for students. funding made it possible to implement arabic where district funds were not available. policy-makers gladly provided funding to make sure students could continue the languages through high school and have since expanded them to additional sites. the foreign language assistance program addressed the need of studying the critical needs of foreign languages. providing a firm foundation for language study that increased the number of student learning chinese and arabic and provides the opportunity to become proficient in these languages. we had 125 high school student

learning chinese and 162 students learning arabic ending today, we have a little over 5000 students in elementary, middle, and high school learning chinese, and over 1000 learning arabic. our fifth grade students are now connecting seventh is to convey meaning using characters in arabic script. projects were funded at every level and we developed a virtual online chinese learning course which allows more students the opportunity to learn chinese not just in fairfax county but throughout the commonwealth of virginia. we developed an electronic classroom that broadcast arabic courses to high school students attending schools that do not have sufficient enrollment. we also developed programs in the fairfax pyramid which gives students an addict related

program of study. we support chinese and arabic programs at eight additional elementary schools and four high schools. we also partnered with georgetown university and george mason university for mentoring, seminars, guest speakers, and summer language camps. we now have ample research that proves what all other countries have known for a long time. we must start language learning at an early age when the brain is most receptive to language acquisition. when it language supervisors propose starting a program, they are often denied due to stretched budgets. policymakers' views them as a want and not a need to students. federal funding is the only way to prove to them that the money

is well spent want people can see what these children can do with a second language. we do not know what the world will be like in 20 years but we cannot say we are educating our students for the 21st century if we are not giving them the tools they need to protect the country. in closing, i would like to say that fairfax county public schools is thankful for the funding that we received and 6000 students studying chinese and arabic are thankful, too. >> thank you very much. please proceed with your statement. >> i have always been an adventurer and enjoy puzzles, exploring, and learning new things and these qualities led me to apply it to the national security language initiative fo ryouth. i studied russian in high school for two years and decided that the ideal way to get to the next

level in russian language was through immersion. in my senior year of high school, i applied for a scholarship funded by the u.s. department of state through the bureau of educational and cultural affairs, administered by the international of education. when i won a scholarship to study, i was ecstatic. however, i had no idea how significant this experience would change my perception of culture and language as well as shape my educational and career aspirations. during my time in russia, i lived with a family. on my first day, they were unsure of how to behave around me and even how to feed me. brad, pancakes, soda -- what do americans eat for breakfast? unfortunately, my ability to communicate was limited to

prepared phrases i learned in high school. i knew how to say hello, goodbye, please, thank you, and "very tasty." however, i felt unable to communicate my emotions and learned more about the family kind enough to keep me as their guest. i wanted so badly to speak to them and thank them for how i was thankful for their generosity. my goal to communicate in russian was achieved through practice speaking with my family, around the city, and my studies at the linguistic university. our professor put an extraordinary amount of effort into teaching us a russian. through their teaching, i quickly became able to express

myself. my host mother was delighted when i asked her about her day and told her about the poem i was reading. my new russian friends, professors, and family expired may. after returning, i was confident that i wanted to pursue a career involving russia and international relations. in 2014, i will graduate from smith college with a double major. i hope to work in public-service for either the u.s. department of state, the federal government, or a nonprofit organization. by pursuing a career involving public service and russia, i know that i will be working in a field that i am passionate about. it is why i discovered my passion for russian studies. thank you for this opportunity and i would be happy to answer any questions.

>> thank you very much. mr. wood, please proceed with your statement. >> if federally funded program by the u.s. department of state has allowed me to do unimaginable things. without its support, i would not have been granted the opportunities that i experienced such as going to beijing, china, twice in my lifetime. i would not have pursued learning to learn the chinese- language. prior to graduating from high school, i had no interest in learning another language. as a student in washington, d.c., my opportunities were very limited. during the 10th grade, i was granted an opportunity that changed my life forever. after much convincing, i applied

for a study abroad program. i figured this would be a way to view the world outside of my local periphery, but i took a chance and it paid off. i was offered the opportunity to study abroad in china for six weeks. i am forever grateful that the funding granted me the opportunity to go to china. this was a life changing experience. i appreciate that americans promoting study abroad targets students that lived in underrepresented communities across the nation because that is where the attention needs focused now. because of travel experiences and through the lens of students like me. every student deserves a global experience. sent my experience, i have decided to pursue a future

career in the foreign service working either in an international development organization, igo, or an ngo. i recently finished my freshman year at george mason university where i am pursuing a double major. i am also currently in the chinese language study program at my college where you build relationships with native chinese citizens that come to study at george mason. i probably would have pursued a career very different than the one i am pursuing now if i did not go to the program. these types of programs are very necessary for the development of our future young generation because without them we have very limited the use on the world. as the u.s. becomes more interactive and develop, we have to understand that the only barrier that we have to break is

through communication especially through languages such as chinese. improving the foreign language capacity of the nation is crucial to the united states success over its lifetime. in order to become powerful, we have to learn to adapt and learn new knowledge. think you for your time and i am happy to answer any questions that you have. >> thank you very much. major mitchell, please proceed with your statement. >> i thank you for the opportunity to discuss my experiences as a fellow and the impact the program has had on my career as an army officer. my born fellowship afforded me the opportunity to spend a semester at the arabic american institute. 8 has significantly impacted my

career as an army officer specialized in the affairs of the arab world. i have served 48 months in the middle east as a combat arms officer and a foreign officer. i have a leveraged my arabic language training to build partnerships at the technical, operational, and strategic levels. i have stated arabic in a variety of been used -- studied arabic in a variety of the venues spendin. i first put my skills to work in 2003 when i served with a regiment. my commander understood the role i could play to build rapport with local officials and i was

put in charge of the local squadron team. the relationships i build it saved american and iraqi lives and help my unit build a successful strategy. in 2004, i took command of a tank company and trained my men for a second tour beginning in april 2005. my commander i again placed me in a unique role partnered with an iraqi army battalion. our tour was very successful and our partnership was recognized as one of the strongest american-iraqi partnerships at that time. i was able to plan and execute tactical operations with my iraqi counterparts without an interpreter. because of my born fellowship, i came to the army with the unique skill set that i have leverage

and strengthen to build relationships with our partners in the middle east. then national security education program alumni like me are currently serving across the department of defense and bothered government agencies. -- and other government agencies. i want to thank you for your continued interest in this very important capability. thank you. >> thank you very much, major. shauna, when i was a youngster, my dad spoke chinese and hawaiian in hawaii. but at that time, people thought it was bad for children to learn multiple languages. so my parents did not teach me.

as a matter of fact, they said, "speak english." you are very lucky 'cause now we understand it is good for students and very important for our country to teach foreign languages. my question to you is what do you like most about learning a different language and what made you want to learn it? >> what i like most about learning chinese is how it is taught to us through fun activities but still learning. i guess my parents inspired me to learn another language because i was already learning

one because of my religion. i like learning about other cultures and that inspired me to learn chinese. >> i see. did you have an opportunity to go to a chinese community or china? >> not yet but i am hoping to when i am older to go to china and learn more about the culture and their way of life. >> yes. as you know, there are different dialects in china. my father spoke cantonese. so, it is a little different from the major language now in china. thank you very much for your responses, shauna. ms. patrick, i am impressed with

your achievements in educating young students in foreign languages. i like your greeting as well. do you know how often students continue their language steady after they finish your program? and how the program is influencing their career goals? >> i think the key is when you start language learning at an early age, students do not look at it as being a difficult language or even an academic subjects. they look at it as a communicative tool. we now have all of our language lessons related to content. they are using language to problem solve in math and social studies. so to continue on it just seems

like the natural next step. you all learning the language through sixth grade, until you hit a high level of proficiency which we are seeing in our students. it is interesting. we do not encourage them to just think of two languages. we want this to be the foundation of multiple languages. sometimes we see our students take on more languages in middle school or high school and then continue on in college. i think because we are developing that fearlessness of language, they are also more encouraged to continue with languages at higher levels of education. >> thank you. this question is for mr. wo ood and major mitchell.

how is learning a foreign language and about a different culture shaped your perspective about the world we live in? >> i feel that learning a language and about a culture is critical to language learning in general because it gives you a basis of understanding. you can really connect more to the language and have a reason to continue to learn and language. i believe that is growing the important in this day and age when the world meet language speakers and need people to communicate across culturally. thank you. >> thank you. >> i think that it allows me to think outside of my own stereotypes that i had prior to going.

learning a new language and about their culture allows me to learn about the language and the people that are within the culture, the people and what they do and how they interact with each other. it allows me to see them -- it allows me to interact with them in a way where i could not have had before if i did not learn their language. it helps me develop a relationship with them came bang >> thank you very much-- with them. >> think you very much. >> i think language is the hard science of understanding people who come from different places than one's self. i find that emphasizing the common things between things

that are common to myself, to my peers in the army, and the people that we work with -- learning a language helps you to emphasize those common factors as human beings. so, i am a big advocate ofin the sense that a lot of the way we think is done in language. if i want to know another way of thinking about a topic, to learn to do that in a different language gives me a different perspective. i am a big advocate of language training. >> i should tell you i am a world war ii veteran.

during that time, i served out in the pacific. and at that time, our country used our japanese citizens, who were male at that time, because it just drafted males, and used them to deal with the japanese. they became a part of the m.i.s., which was a military intelligence service. it was claimed that their work out there in the pacific during that period of time and because of language they were able to shorten world war ii by years. so even at that time, the

language made a difference. i knew some interpreters of general macarthur at that time who served in the philippines as well as in japan after the war japan surrendered. learned a lot from them, that their language speaking ability really made a difference with the japanese and were able to help stabilize the government at that time. even to the point where it helped to bring japan about so they could become as they has

one of the top industrial nations. so, the language from our citizens makes a difference. i am so glad that we are moving in that direction. from my position we ought to be sure that we have adequate resources and programs that we help bring this about. in this point in time, your experiences can help us bring this about. this is why we have you here. everything that you have said will be a part of the record and will make a difference to us and to our country. i would like to say thank you to our witnesses for being here today. it is clear that we have made good progress to improve our

nation's language capabilities. however, as you know, more work remains to be done. i look forward to working with the administration and my colleagues in the senate to make sure we have robust language capabilities. you are helping us to do that. the hearing record will be open for two weeks for questions other members may have. again, i want to say thank you so much for your responses and your statements. it is helpful. this hearing is adjourned. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> coming up, a hearing on energy innovation.

then the european economy and political landscape. followed by the weekly radio addresses from president obama and a kansas republican. later, "the communicators." owell andmichael pau glenn britt look at the state of the cable industry, getting additional content to customers, and other issues the industry faces. tonight at 6:30 p.m. eastern. witnesses at this senate energy hearing warned of potential setbacks as a federal funding runs out. the former lockheed martin ceo testified that government has always played a role in supporting new energy technology

development. this is about an hour and 20 minutes. >> good morning. thank you all for coming. today we are here to discuss the report of the american energy innovation council on the role of government in developing innovative energy technologies. the business leaders of the council have a long track record of commercial success, building technology companies that compete in the global marketplace and make a strong case in that report that with the government as a partner, the united states can continue to lead in the clean energy sector. as all of the witnesses today point out in the written testimony, there is a global race on to produce the next generation of energy technologies. though prices on our

electricity bills or at the pompidou not always reflected, our current energy system is very expensive. the costs all of us pay in national energy and climbed an economic insecurity are unacceptably high, and its likely the fast-growing economies throughout the developing world will be looking to a new generation of technologies that avoid these costs. it's not only a concern about costs, it's also a significant commercial opportunity for u.s. entrepreneur. fortunately, developing new technologies has historically been a great strength of the united states and, as the witnesses have pointed out, an area where the government has been an effective partner. although i think there has been a broad consensus in congress in the past in favor of investing in these emerging technologies, we have been spending much more uncertain signals recently.

important support programs have either already expired or appear to be in danger of expiring, and despite repeated calls to address the real problems in the so-called belly of debt in initial technology deployment, instead of expanding on crucial current programs, some in congress are looking to in the programs that we have in place. meanwhile, our competitors and potential competitors in the developing world continue to press ahead aggressively to court new energy companies and the talent that will develop the next innovations. as these technologies continue to improve and become more cost competitive, we should view this as an opportunity to take a global -- take a global leadership position. we have some of the best minds in the world walking on this problem. it's very much in our national interest to show them a clear path which for developing and deploying these technologies here and exporting them abroad

rather than forcing them to go overseas to find opportunities. i have said many times i believe the only losers in the clean energy technology race will be those that fail to participate, and i hope that the recent paralysis' we have seen in the congress does not lead us to miss this opportunity. the witnesses testifying today have given a great deal of thought to what leads to success in developing new technologies. oliver forward to hearing about their conclusions and what we can do here to put american our jurors in the best position to succeed in this vital area. let me call on senator murkowski and acknowledge that this is her birthday. we were delayed just a minute while we are celebrating that in the back room. let me call on her for any comments she has before return to the witnesses.

>> thank you, mr. chairman. it would be a fine birthday present if we could figure out as a committee how we really advance of good, strong energy policy for this nation, using the ingenuity, just the opportunity that we have as a nation to build on all of our strengths. so thank you for that recognition. i would like to welcome mr. augustine to the committee here this morning, also mr. jenkins. it was a report on competitiveness, rising above the gathering storm, that serve as a foundation for legislation that passed by an overwhelming margin back in 2007. it would not surprise me if your work on energy innovation encapsulate in the report we are going to hear about today ultimately could lead to a similar result. i think most would agree it is time for us to renew a coherent, long-term approach to energy development, truly and all the above approach.

innovation, of course, is absolutely at the core of that strategy. i think it is one of the few areas where the government can and should be providing greater funding. at the same time, i am aware that if we do decide to spend more on energy innovation, we will have to make some very difficult choices about the amount of spending and the duration as well as what our priorities are. a couple, each of these areas. investments is code for spending. that will require taxpayer dollars with the debt situation sitting at 15 trillion dollars right now. greater spending in this area will need to be offset. it will be challenging to find space in the budget, but it presents an opportunity to be financially created. let's figure out how we make this work. let's focus on the priorities. for years i have suggested that a portion of the revenues from domestic energy production should be devoted to energy innovation.

it is the key part of my legislation that would raise an estimated $160 billion for the treasury at today's oil prices. even a fraction of those revenues to go long way toward developing resources and technology that will rely on -- that we will rely on in the future. i am glad to see the revenues listed as a possibility in the catalyzing american energy report. beyond how much we spend, we need to think carefully about our priorities. when we look back at where taxpayer dollars have been spent in recent years, i think it is clear that we have not really gotten to that all of the above policy. we can see that and how much the federal government has been on solar and wind as opposed to some of the other areas. -- how much the federal government has spent. we can see that in the direction the administration has taken in choosing to focus on an electric project to focus on electric vehicles as compared to other promising alternatives.

it makes good sense to invest in energy are an dee perry that is clearly in our interest. it is against our interests to keep subsidizing technology year after year without a clear path toward allowing those technologies to stand on their own in the market. to strike the right balance it will record for existing programs, possibly the phase-out of many of the subsidies that are currently in place. some experts believe the federal effort should be oriented more toward basic research and away from deployment. in the tight fiscal climate, the government should spend on priorities. i tend to agree with that approach. when it comes to energy innovation, we have a lot of thinking to do and a lot of decisions to make. i hope that with the hearing this morning we will have an opportunity to explore some of them. again, i appreciate the good work that has gone into the report. thank you, mr. chairman pierre >> our first panel -- thank you, mr. chairman.

>> we have a retired ceo and chairman of lockheed martin corp.. he has been a witness here many times in the past, and we welcome him back and look for to any comments he has about the report and what he thinks congress ought to do. the names of the other six members are in the written statement out like to provide for the record. >> we will include the entire report in our record.

>> thank you, and i also should acknowledge that we received excellent technical and administrative support from the bipartisan policy council, an organization that was borne by four of your former colleagues. -- that was formed by four of your former colleagues. we are highly informal group. i think my comments will closely reflect the views of that entire group, because there is little difference among us on this issue. we have prepared to reports. the first of those had to do with the underfunding of research and development in the energy area in our country, but by the government and by the private sector. we also came out very strongly in supporting -- which has exceeded most of our expectations to date. the second report we put out deals with the need for the government to involve itself and energy research and development. i will speak more to that in my

remarks. it is probably fair to note we are not a group that in general welcomes government involvement in the private sector rose the business and industry. the reason being it tends to form distortions in the way people in business behavior, and hurts our competitiveness globally. on the other hand, there are certain areas where programs are of importance to the citizenry, but which the private sector cannot or will not invest. those would seem to me to be exactly the sort of thing that governments are designed to do and indeed, our government has done in the past. there are two areas where the private sector is particularly reluctant to invest. the first of these has become known as the valley of death. i think there is a second valley also, a second valley of death, if you will. the first describes a situation where basic research leads to a promising idea, but it has not

yet been proven to be feasible in practice. it is very risky, because applying research or a former research is a long-term proposition in terms of time. it often produces failure, and even when it succeeds, the funder of the work may not be the end beneficiary, yet the work may well benefit society as a whole. the second challenge in the energy field is that energy is so capital intensive. that tends to discourage new entrants in the marketplace and discourages putting ideas into the marketplace because they are so disruptive to the investment that is in place. the government has many options to support energy research and development, and the advancement of energy in general. this goes from contracts to

grants to direct involvement in the marketplace in regulation, to tax policy, in kind support, and more. the government has done many of these things in the past. we are all familiar with that. one thing that one certainly has to reflect upon and be aware of is that when performing research and also the kind of development we deal with an energy, were the second valley of death requires taking a proven concept and showing that it could be scaled to be economically competitive. that is a very costly job, usually more costly than the first threshold. it is fairly unique to the

energy field. i was going to say that we certainly should be prepared to accept failures. that is a characteristic of research and development. i would not for a moment excuse failure as incompetence or nefarious activity, but we are dealing with the unknown, and even the best intentions can lead to failure. i would just note that innovation really is the key to succeeding in this area. fortunately, america has been very good at innovation in the past. it is one of the few non diminishing advantages that we have today in the global marketplace.

in that regard, our desire to solve the energy challenge is just a microcosm of america's position in the overall competitiveness arena in today's global marketplace. with those opening comments, mr. chairman and members of the committee, i would be happy to address any questions you have. >> thank you very much, and thanks again for all the work that went into this and other reports that you have championed and been involved in. let me start with a couple of questions. whenever we get into this discussion, it strikes me that a major change in the environment which needs to be acknowledged, as we talk about what roles should our government played in working with industry in these areas, a major change in the environment is what is happening with other governmental support around the

world. i think for a lot of our history, the involvement of the government in order to assist and work weeks and part with industry work with -- and work with and part with industry would not require to a great extent -- gunnoe there are exceptions to that, but it strikes me that when you look at what is happening in renewable energy technology and development now, world wide, you have very aggressive efforts going on by the germans, by the chinese and various other countries to not only further develop the technology, but also help with the commercialization of the technology and the capturing of the jobs that result from that technology. that puts a new importance on our own government finding the right level of involvement in the right type of involvement to have in this same area.

i don't know if you have thoughts about that. >> i would certainly agree with your conclusion that things have changed greatly. we do have foreign governments very much involved in supporting their so-called private sector. i have learned the hard way in my own experience that private companies cannot compete with government, whether it be another government or our own. i think an unfortunate thing has taken place. on the other hand, it is a fact of life. my hope would be our government will have to involve itself only to the extent of helping preserve a level playing field so our companies can compete fairly internationally. secondly, our government would support those things to the private sector cannot or will not do, and the government has done for many years, all the way from building highways to putting the research in place to produce the internet or gps or at many of the other things we take for granted now.

so yes, is a changed world. other governments are deeply involved. the first line of our government should be to try to encourage other governments to limit their involvement in that second category i described, and not become active participants in the marketplace. the good news for governments that become overly involved is that when they make a mistake, it is usually a big one in areas throughout the economy. i think there are reasons for our government importing itself as it has in the past, but we cannot hide from the realities of today. >> a follow-on to that first question, we love to give speeches around the congress here about how the government should not pick winners and losers.

like most of these statements, it is a clear, simple formulation that is almost always wrong. you pointed out that arva-e has been a great success. darpa has been a great success over decades. as i understand the way that they have operated, it is in the business of trying to pick winners. does not always do it, and it does not make big bets, in a relative sense, but it certainly tries to identify those areas of technology development that have great promise for the country. you mentioned some of them, the

internet and tps and some of the others that have proven to be very useful -- the internet and gps. >> that is the first accusation that usually is made the, you don't want the government picking winners and losers. to make that simplistic, i guess i would agree with the comment. the problem is that in the real world, the government does and has to pick winners and losers every day. the government decides who will win contracts and who gets grants for research, what projects are continued in which ones get canceled. that is once again of fact of life. there are three guards at a very important if the government is going to have to make difficult choices, which the government has to do.

the first of those is the government a ploy -- employee competition so that everyone has a fair shot of contributing in being involved. the second is to be highly transparent. the third thing that needs to be done is to assure that we have competent people in our government who are able to make sensible judgments without conflicts. given those three criteria, i believe the government not -- the government not only can but has to make choices, to pick winners and losers. many parts of the government do this. there is a certain parallel. there are number of tools in the tool kit of congress that go from giving grants to contracts to giving advice. it has been quite successful in carrying out its mission.

they make choices every day. >> thank you very much. mr. augustine, in the report, you have concluded that we can have the greatest impact if we focus on energy r and d. others have said the focus or the major impact should be on the deployment end. as we try to figure out how we allocate scarcer dollars, and how we prioritize, what part of the technology chain do you figure we here in the government should be focusing on most? >> that is a difficult question. certainly if you don't focus on research, there will be nothing to deploy.

on the other hand, if you focus entirely on research, there will be no money to employ the benefits. so you need to do both. research costs a lot less in general than the development of deployment. more money may be required for the latter, even though ideally i think the role of the government is more usually justified focusing on research. it used to be that the u.s. government -- and i mean two or three decades ago, the u.s. government provides about two- thirds of the research and development spent in this country. today is about a third. the problem is that industry that has picked up the two-

thirds, spent almost entirely on development and is getting out of the research business. bell labs is a classic example of what is happening in industry, and i've had my own experience in that regard. the short interest, we need to do both. i think we focus on those two valleys of death. had we take just basic research ideas funded by the national science foundation and places like that, and how do you turn those in to engineering projects? secondly, how you get across that second valley? in all cases, i think the beneficiary should involve some of their own investment. they should have some skin in the game. >> it is trying to find that balance, and determining where you have those areas where the