Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro hosted the first-ever Department of the Navy Foreign Area Officers Summit at the U.S. Naval Academy's Mahan Hall, Sept. 12, 2024.
ANNAPOLIS, Maryland (Sept. 12, 2024) - Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro hosted the first-ever Department of the Navy Foreign Area Officers Summit at the U.S. Naval Academy's Mahan Hall, Sept. 12, 2024.
The summit provided the secretary with an opportunity to interact with FAOs stationed all over the world, in addition to academy midshipmen, allowing him to share his priorities concerning global engagement, strategic competition, and interoperability with Allies and partners.
Secretary Del Toro was introduced by Deputy Under Secretary of the Navy for Policy Ms. Anne Gebhards, and National Security Council Spokesperson Mr. John Kirby later provided keynote remarks. Summit panelists included Lt. Gen. Joseph "JP" McGee, Adm. Stuart Munsch, and Lt. Gen. James Bierman.
The Navy Foreign Area Officer (FAO) community is a stand-alone restricted line community offering world-wide assignment opportunities to qualified naval officers.
"[FAOs] are in many ways the eyes and ears of the Navy and Marine Corps team," said Del Toro. "It is my belief that FAOs operate at the front lines of the implementation of our National Defense Strategy, which is right where we need you."
Naval officers selected for FAO are assigned a region of specialization, provided language and graduate education on an as-required basis, and detailed to FAO-coded billets in accordance with the Navy FAO career path.
"Together, we have emerged from the nascent phase of Department of the Navy FAOs, where we viewed FAOs as highly specialized and trained military diplomats-officers with language and cultural understand who could navigate the interagency environment and manage security cooperation programs or attaché duties," said Del Toro.
FAOs duties include living and adapting to many different foreign countries-some austere and even dangerous, sometimes away from extended family members.
"In every corner of the world where the United States fights to uphold the rule of law and promote prosperity for all, we do it alongside our allies and partners," said Del Toro. "And so, now, more than ever, it is imperative that we have the expertise of you, our FAOs, to shape the battlefield, deter conflict, de-escalate tensions, and, if necessary, prevail in conflict."
Navy FAOs maintain a broad range of military skills and experiences: knowledge of political-military affairs; familiarity with the political, cultural, social, economic, and geographic factors of the countries and regions in which they are stationed; and proficiency in one or more of the dominant languages in their regions of expertise.
Navy FAOs can expect to serve on staffs of Fleets, Combatant Commands, Defense Agencies, and DoD military-diplomatic offices at U.S. Embassies. They provide expertise in planning and executing operations, provide liaison with foreign militaries operating in coalitions with U.S. forces, conduct political-military activities, and execute military-diplomatic missions.
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