Rep. Israel Releases Report on Professional Military Education

REP. ISRAEL RELEASES REPORT ON PROFESSIONAL MILITARY EDUCATION

Hauppauge, NY— On Tuesday, Rep. Steve Israel, the only New York Democrat on the House Armed Services, released a report on the proceedings of the Professional Military Education (PME) conference that he hosted last month at the Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, NY. The conference sought to explore how the academic and military worlds can help each other develop and can provide vital steps forward in the cognitive transformation of our Armed Forces.

"We give our military exquisite situational awareness, but they also need better cultural awareness," Israel said. "We have hardware that gives them the position, range and firepower of the enemy, but what they need more of is the intellect to understand the willpower of the enemy and the intent of the enemy. It is important that we improve our capacity to understand why they fight, where they fight and how they fight. My focus on the House Armed Services Committee has been to help bring about a military transformation that gives our troops the education, skills and awareness they will need against asymmetric and unpredictable 21st century threats. That means a transformation in hardware, as well as software."

The landmark national security conference, "Rebuilding America's Intellectual Arsenal," featured Congressman Ike Skelton, the Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee and Congress' foremost expert on professional military development, LTG David Petraeus USA, who was in charge of training and equipping the Iraqi Security Forces, Maj. Gen Donald Gardner USMC, MG Robert Scales USA (Ret), Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Plans Gail McGinn, national security analysts, and leading academics, including Dr. James Keagle, Director of the National Defense University.

The conference focused on three main questions:
1) What are the current and foreseeable intellectual needs of American forces in new military environments?
2) What is the current model of professional military development meeting those needs?
3) Are there new collaborations and partnerships between the private sector, America's academic community and the military that can advance the intellectual skills of America's forces in addressing new threats and conflicts?

Key and recurring themes throughout the report are: a) the need to build and sustain a stronger language and cultural capability throughout the military; b) the related need to tie such studies to career progression; c) the status of the partnership between the military and civilian academia; and d) the organization of PME within the Department of Defense.

http://www.house.gov/israel/news/042506-pme.htm