Lieutenant General Koziol Returns to DLI

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Donna O'Harren
  • 311th Training Squadron commander
PRESIDEO OF MONTEREY, CA --      The Air Force's highest ranking active duty career intelligence officer, Lt. Gen. Craig Koziol, returned to the Defense Language Institute in Monterey wearing a new hat. As the Deputy Undersecretary of Defense (Intelligence) for Joint and Coalition Warfighter Support and Commander of the Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Task Force, Lt. Gen. Koziol is keenly interested in what DLI is doing with respect to language training relevant to military operations in Afghanistan. Lt. Gen. Koziol last visited DLI in September 2008 as the Commander of Air Force ISR Agency, which oversees all operational Air Force cryptologic linguists worldwide. In his current role, he is focused primarily on Afghanistan, and during his Nov. 6 visit with DLI leadership and unit commanders, he emphasized that language will be a "game changer" in Afghanistan.
    Regarding partnerships and information-sharing with coalition forces, Lt. Gen. Koziol remarked, "If they're willing to fight with us and die with us on the ground, we have to be willing to share information with them, and they need to share with us."
    During his visit, Lt. Gen. Koziol had the opportunity to meet with Airmen, Soldiers, and Sailors in various language programs to gain their perspectives on the language training experience at DLI. He took time to have breakfast with a multi-service group of DLI students and to visit several classrooms. Students in the Multi-Language School, which administers the majority of the Afghan language programs, demonstrated their language technology capabilities. He came away impressed by the caliber of young professionals at the Presidio and reiterated his message on the importance of what they do and how it is absolutely key to the fight: "This is a great school...we need cryptologic linguists -- badly."
    Lt. Gen. Koziol's visit concluded with a meeting with Air Force commanders and key staff from the 517th Training Group, 311th Training Squadron, and 314th Training Squadron, who provided an update on Air Force language training statistics and initiatives. Lt. Gen. Koziol shared with them information on some of his ISR Task Force initiatives in Afghanistan and re-emphasized the importance of what the Air Force and the other service units at DLI are doing to ensure linguists are well trained so they can make a significant impact in the field.
    Link to Lt Gen Koziol's bio: http://www.af.mil/information/bios/bio.asp?bioID=6098