The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLIFLC) will celebrate 10 years of outstanding cooperation on October 22, 2008 with the DTRA 10th Anniversary Celebration and Graduation of Russian Arms Control Speaking Proficiency Course (RACSPC) Class 0108. On October 1, 1998 the On-Site Inspection Agency became the On-Site Inspection Directorate of DTRA when Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen combined four Department of Defense organizations to create DTRA. It may come as a surprise to some who are familiar with the arms control community that DTRA is only 10 years old. This is due to the fact that DLIFLC’s role in training military linguists for duty at DTRA and its legacy organization, OSIA, as English-Russian consecutive interpreters in support of arms control treaties and agreements with the Former Soviet Union (FSU) has remained constant for 18 years. These interpreters play an integral role in DTRA fulfilling its mission and vision to make the world safer by reducing the threat of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
Upon completion of the RACSPC, DTRA interpreters serve in the On-Site Inspection Directorate (OS). The mission of OS has grown significantly since OSIA was created in January 1988 to fulfill the terms of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, a bilateral nuclear arms reduction treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union. OS carries out inspection, escort, monitoring and arms control-related missions in the US, FSU and other countries to fulfill US obligations agreed upon in numerous multilateral treaties and agreements, such as the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty (CFE), the Open Skies Treaty (OST), the Plutonium Production Reactor Agreement (PPRA) and the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).
Highlighting the accomplishments of DTRA interpreters in the last ten years is not an easy task. DTRA interpreters have a reputation of being the best military linguists in the Department of Defense; this reputation is not unfounded. Many know of the high caliber of military linguist that serve in DTRA due to the fact that the DTRA(OSIA) team has taken first place every year that DLIFLC has held the Worldwide Language Competition, but they may not know of our linguists’ other distinguished accomplishments. Many of our linguists are called upon to provide support for high-level diplomatic delegations and various challenging ad hoc missions, sometimes with very little time for preparation. The most notable example is SSgt Genadiy Treyger, who found out the morning of Vice President Dick Cheney’s arrival to Kazakhstan that he would be the Vice President’s primary interpreter for the duration of his visit May 5-6, 2006 to the country. SSgt Treyger admirably interpreted for Vice President Cheney in a variety of situations: bilateral talks between the delegations, one-on-one meeting between the Vice President and the president of Kazakhstan, Mr. Nursultan Nazarbayev, and a press conference to name a few.
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While serving in the Defense Threat Reduction Office, Moscow, Russia, in June 2006 TSgt Billy Ford was called upon with 20 minutes notice to provide interpreter support for a high-level diplomatic meeting at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) to discuss extending the Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) Umbrella Agreement. During the meeting TSgt Ford reviewed the draft agreement and noticed typographical errors in the Russian text and inconsistencies in the English language translation. Due to his outstanding knowledge of the Russian language, the texts were redacted and eventually signed by the two countries, extending this extremely important agreement worth several hundred million dollars per year in aid to the Russian Federation (RF) to reduce the threat from WMD and related materials.
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These are just a couple of remarkable examples of DTRA interpreters excelling, but the “routine” missions of DTRA interpreters are no less extraordinary. In DTRA’s short history it has crossed several milestones that could not have been achieved without its interpreters. Within the framework of START, all of the RF SS-24 Intercontinental Ballistic Missile systems have been destroyed and Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan are now nuclear-free nations. Under the PPRA nine of the RF ten plutonium production reactors, the primary purpose of which is to produce weapons-grade plutonium, have been taken offline. In accordance with the CWC the US obtained the mandated milestone of 45 percent of its chemical weapons stockpile and completed destruction of all former CW production facilities in the US and RF.
The RACSPC is quickly approaching the milestone of 1,000 graduates. With START due to expire in December 2009 and Russia’s moratorium on the CFE Treaty, the next generation of DTRA interpreters will be facing more uncertainty than previous generations. But they can rest assured that they have just competed possibly the most challenging course at DLIFLC and they are prepared to meet those challenges head on. |
