CIA Director Panetta to meet Arab-American leaders

September 11, 2:58 PMCIA ExaminerStephen Lee

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(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

The Detroit Free Press reports that CIA Director Leon Panetta and a delegation of senior CIA managers will meet with Middle Eastern community leaders in Dearborn, Michigan, a Detroit suburb, next week.  Dearborn is home to one of America's largest Arab immigrant communities, and CIA officials are keen to attract Arab-Americans into national security service, where their language and cultural abilities are sorely needed to support intelligence missions in Iraq, Afghanistan, and beyond.

While CIA's goal of recruiting more Arab-Americans is a matter of record, the Free Press says that Panetta's visit is historic because it is said to be the first visit by a sitting CIA Director to the greater Detroit area's Arab-American community.  CIA has sponsored community events in Dearborn, such as an Arab International Festival in June, complete with CIA sponsorship banners on prominent display.

Strengthening CIA's cultural and language capabilities via recruiting ethnic Americans and beefing up internal language training has been a top priority of Panetta's tenure at CIA.  Congress has also taken a keen interest in ensuring that CIA bolster its sagging foreign language capabilities, which vitally essential to field intelligence operations.