Michael Nugent

Position title: Director, Defense Language and National Security Education Office

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Dr. Michael Nugent serves as the Director of the Defense Language and National Security Education Office (DLNSEO). In this role, Dr. Nugent advises the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Readiness) on policy and programmatic matters regarding foreign language, culture and regional expertise for Department of Defense personnel. Dr. Nugent also develops and oversees plans and programs valued at $2B per year, and evaluates changes in legislation, policies, regulations, directives, and funding to assess the impact on language, cultural, and regional capabilities within the Department for Active Duty, National Guard and Reserve personnel, DoD civilians, and contractors.

The DLNSEO has program management oversight of many high value training and education programs to include the Defense Language Institutes (Foreign Language Center and English Language Center), the Joint Foreign Area Officer program, the Department’s language testing program and cross-cultural competence initiatives.

Dr. Nugent also oversees nine federal language and cultural initiatives designed to attract, recruit, and train a future federal workforce skilled in languages and culture to work across all agencies involved in national security. These initiatives support professional proficiency language training at U.S. colleges and universities, scholarships and fellowships to support students to study overseas in regions critical to U.S. national security.

Dr. Nugent serves at the Executive Director of both the Defense Language Steering Committee and the Secretary of Defense chaired National Security Education Board. Dr. Nugent has a PhD in higher education from Pennsylvania State University. He has studied languages and literature at universities in Germany, France, and Spain.