November 25, 2005: The United States is establishing a "Civilian Linguist Reserve Corps" (CLRC), to provide foreign language experts for national emergencies. This sort of thing has been proposed before, but never got off the ground. The basic idea behind the CLRC is, during peace time, to find people with needed foreign language skills, certify their skill level and get some of them a security clearance (so they can handle classified material). The CLRC members would receive a small fee for being available, in case of an emergency. CLRC membership would probably also help members get some civilian translator jobs. After all, if you are CLRC, you are "government certified." When called to active service, the CLRC would receive a pre-agreed pay rate, that would be competitive with the going rate for translators.
