MONTEREY, Calif. – The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center hosted a virtual Advanced Command Language Program Managers Conference from Sept. 9-10.
This event has been held almost annually since 1994 and is intended to share updates, exchange best practices, and strengthen collaboration across the Department of War and intelligence community. More than 150 CLPMs and language program stakeholders participated in two days of discussions and community engagement.
The conference opened with remarks from Col. Christy Whitfield, the DLIFLC commandant, followed by updates on DLIFLC initiatives, including the future of the 19-week intermediate and advanced language courses. Service branch CLPMs later briefed their communities on rating-specific developments, and breakout discussions enabled attendees to address lessons learned and challenges from the past year.
“The part (of these discussions) that captures everyone’s attention is our ability to have input for future policy changes,” said Sgt. 1st Class James Murray, part of DLIFLC’s CLPM support team.
The second day featured presentations from members of the CLPM and intelligence community on topics such as artificial intelligence tools for self-directed language maintenance, the DLIFLC degree program, National Cryptologic University updates and Military Cryptologic Continuing Education Program changes.
Representatives from Naval Information Forces, Navy Information Operations Command Georgia and Information Warfare Training Command Monterey attended the conference. Specific Navy topics of interest included its service breakout session, the CLPM community discussion and updates regarding the National Security Agency’s Military Cryptologic Continuing Education Program.
Chief Petty Officer Deborah Bowers, a Cryptologic Technician (Interpretive) Sailor assigned to IWTC Monterey’s Detachment Goodfellow, was a guest speaker. She was the Department of Defense Language Professional of the Year for fiscal 2023 and briefed attendees on emerging uses of AI in language learning.
The conference concluded with announcement of the fiscal year 2025 DOW language program winners. Navy Information Operations Command Pacific was named the Command Language Program of the Year, and Sgt. Monica Kim of the 470th Military Intelligence Brigade at Joint Base San Antonio won Language Professional of the Year honors.
IWTC Monterey is colocated with DLIFLC on Presidio of Monterey. As part of the Center for Information Warfare Training, it provides a continuum of foreign language training to Navy personnel that prepares them to conduct information warfare across the full spectrum of military operations.
Detachment Goodfellow aligns under IWTC Monterey and oversees follow-on “A” school accession training for more than 200 Sailors.
With four schoolhouse commands, two detachments and 15 training sites throughout the United States and Japan, CIWT is among the Navy’s largest learning centers and provides instruction for over 26,000 students every year, delivering information warfare professionals to the fleet and joint services. It delivers more than 200 state-of-the-art courses for cryptologic, information systems and electronics technicians; intelligence and cyber specialists, and officers in the information warfare community.