MR. MICHAEL DONEY


COMMAND/ORGANIZATION: Project Manager for Distributed Common Ground System – Army; Program Executive Office for Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors


TITLE: Product director, Machine Foreign Language Translation System


YEARS OF SERVICE IN WORKFORCE: 33


DAWIA CERTIFICATIONS: Level III in program management and engineering


EDUCATION: M.S. in engineering management, George Washington University; B.S. in civil engineer- ing, Virginia Tech


AWARDS: Meritorious Civilian Service Award; Superior Civilian Service Award; Commander’s Award for Civilian Service (multiple); Achievement Medal for Civilian Service (multiple)


“T


here will never be enough human linguists to meet the Army’s varied translation requirements.” Tat’s the problem Michael Doney’s team works to solve. Te solution it’s building is the Machine Foreign Lan- guage Translation System (MFLTS), a family of software applications


that will translate spoken and written material in any foreign language, anywhere in the world.


Commercial translation apps and services solve the general problems a Soldier try- ing to speak with a local vendor might encounter. But they stumble over DOD-isms, and they generally don’t work without internet access. “Moreover, the Army often requires translation of uncommon languages and specific dialects that are of little or no interest to commercial users and thus not typically available on commercial platforms,” Doney said. His team is integrating military-specific language into apps that will be hosted locally on a Soldier’s smartphone or similar device.


In effect, it’s a pocket translator that can go to the most remote corner of the world, a neat solution to the impossibility of having an Army linguist or local translator on hand at all times. “Developing innovative and creative solutions to complex prob- lems is always professionally very satisfying,” said Doney. As product director of the MFLTS team, he leads a diverse group of acquisition professionals and is responsible for all aspects of the program, he said, “ranging from building the program team to the development of acquisition, contracting and sustainment strategies that result in the fielding of a required capability to Soldiers.”


MFLTS is a case in which an Army-built solution was appropriate and necessary, but Doney’s three decades in acquisition have given him an appreciation for the


62 Army AL&T Magazine July-September 2017 Product director puts translators in Soldiers’ pockets


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