Editing Defense Language Institute (section)

===Cold War language instruction===
The U.S. Air Force met most of its foreign language training requirements in the 1950s through contract programs at universities such as [[Yale]], [[Cornell University|Cornell]], and [[Syracuse University|Syracuse]] and the U.S. Navy taught foreign languages at the Naval Intelligence School in Washington, D.C., but in 1963 these programs were consolidated into the Defense Foreign Language Program. A new headquarters, the Defense Language Institute (DLI), was established in Washington, D.C., and the former Army Language School commandant, Colonel James L. Collins Jr., became the institute's first director. {{anchor|DLIWC}}The Army Language School became the DLI West Coast Branch, and the foreign language department at the Naval Intelligence School became the DLI East Coast Branch. The contract programs were gradually phased out. The DLI also took over the English Language School at [[Lackland Air Force Base]], Texas, which became the DLI English Language Center (DLIELC).

During the peak of American involvement in [[Vietnam]] (1965–73), the DLI stepped up the pace of language training. While regular language training continued unabated, more than 20,000 service personnel studied [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]] through the DLI's programs, many taking a special eight-week military adviser "survival" course. From 1966 to 1973, the institute also operated a Vietnamese branch using contract instructors at Biggs Air Force Base near [[Fort Bliss, Texas]] (DLI Support Command, later renamed the DLI Southwest Branch). Vietnamese instruction continued at DLI until 2004.