Group aims to sharpen feds’ international skills

Three educational and policy groups joined together this week to launch a learning initiative promoting federal employees' knowledge of international affairs.

The Global Leadership Consortium is aimed at providing networking, training and research opportunities for civil servants outside the State and Defense departments, which have traditionally strong international roots.

"Agencies outside the foreign affairs and defense communities are on the leading edge of global issues in the environment, science, technology, public health and many other fields," the group's objective states. "The ability to work successfully internationally and to understand the global implications of policies and programs is a critical human capital need."

Founded by the National Academy of Public Administration, the Federal Executive Institute and the Agriculture Department's Graduate School, the consortium will kick off this fall with three workshops. One will focus on the role of the United States as a world superpower, one will develop cultural acumen for employees working abroad and one will center on global conflicts.

Speaking at the inaugural event Tuesday at NAPA's headquarters in Washington, D.C., Clay Johnson, deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget, and David Walker, head of the Government Accountability Office, expressed support for increased global collaboration.

"We have too many Americans that don't understand that just because we're the only superpower on earth, that doesn't mean we're number one on everything," Walker said. "In fact, we're not number one on many things…. There are many areas where we have shared interests" with other countries.

Officials from the Agriculture, Justice and Homeland Security departments spoke about their agencies' growing international involvement. Johnson said a researcher working on genetically modified food, for example, should be asked to look at global repercussions of the work.

"It's a broader analysis than they might have been asked to do 20 years ago," Johnson said.

He also said federal employees working abroad need to know how to help other countries help themselves.

Also discussed was the need for increased foreign language education.

On Wednesday, the Defense Department announced an increase in pay for military personnel proficient in certain foreign languages, starting June 1. The department bumped foreign language pay from $300 to $1,000 a month for active military members and to $6,000 a year for reserve and National Guard members, in order to "increase the capability in languages of strategic need to the department," according to a Pentagon statement.

The Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit organization that works to attract high-quality employees to federal service, released a report earlier this month highlighting the government's dearth of Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Korean, Russian, Farsi and Pashto speakers.

"If the government is to protect the interests of the nation and promote the welfare of the American people, it must build a workforce capable of communicating effectively in a global environment," the paper said.

The organization called for a governmentwide assessment of needed foreign language skills.