W. Patrick Lang

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W. Patrick Lang
W. Patrick Lang

Walter Patrick "Pat" Lang, Jr., is the president of Global Resources Group, a consulting firm. He is a retired United States Army Colonel who served in the Special Forces (the Green Berets) during the Vietnam War. After leaving uniformed military service, he went on to hold high-level posts in civilian military intelligence, heading up intelligence analysis of the Middle East for the Defense Department in a high level capacity equivalent to the rank of a lieutenant general.

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[edit] Background

Lang graduated from the Virginia Military Institute with a BA in English and from the University of Utah with an MA in Middle East Studies. He is a member of Phi Kappa Phi.

Lang is a member of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher, a Roman Catholic chivalric order, in which he holds the rank of Knight Commander.[1]

He is married to the former Marguerite Lessard. They reside in Alexandria, Virginia.

He is the nephew of John H. Lang, a U.S., Japanese and Canadian military and naval hero of the first half of the twentieth century.

[edit] Military service

He is a graduate of the U.S. Army War College, the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and the Armed Forces Staff College. He is a decorated veteran of several of America’s overseas conflicts, including the war in Vietnam where he served in the Special Forces and Military Intelligence.[2] He was trained and educated as a specialist in the Middle East by the U.S. Army and served in that region for many years. He was the first professor of Arabic at the United States Military Academy, where he was twice selected as best classroom teacher of the year.[3] At the Defense Intelligence Agency, he was the Defense Intelligence Officer (DIO) for the Middle East, South Asia and counter-terrorism, and later, the first Director of the Defense Humint Service.[2] At the DIA, he was a member of the Defense Senior Executive Service. At the DIA, he participated in the drafting of National Intelligence Estimates). From 1992 to 1994, all the U.S. military attachés worldwide reported to him. During that period he also briefed U.S. President George Bush at the White House. He had also briefed him during Operation Desert Storm. He had the responsibility for all the human intelligence "HUMINT" in the Department of Defense "DOD." He was also the head of intelligence analysis for the Middle East for seven or eight years at that institution. He was the head of all the Middle East and South Asia analysis in DIA for counter-terrorism for seven years. For his service in the DIA, Lang received the Presidential Rank Award of Distinguished Executive, nominations for which are made from the top one percent of the career members of the Senior Executive Service.[3]

[edit] Post retirement activities

After leaving government service he joined Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, but left that group over policy differences. For a period prior to and during the Iraq War, he registered under the U.S. Department of Justice's Foreign Agents Registration Act, for his work on behalf of a Lebanese politician and industrialist. He was engaged in promoting the peace process, vocational training for the building trades, English and French language instruction, and extending microcredit. He registered on advice of counsel and has since deregistered. Continuing his work on the peace process, he participated in work of the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation. As an example: Imagining the Next War. The foundation sponsors individuals for "scholarly research on violence, aggression, and dominance." Such research must be approved upon application by the foundation board of directors. In 2006, Lang was appointed to the foundation's board of directors.[4] Lang edits a blog |Sic Semper Tyrannis 2008 on the subjects of intelligence gathering and analysis, military affairs, and war and peace.

[edit] Blog and punditry

[edit] Drinking the Koolaid

He is the author of many articles on intelligence, special operations and the Islamic World as well as Intelligence: the Human Factor, a social sciences textbook on Human Intelligence Collection Operations (HUMINT). His article "Drinking the Koolaid" in the August 2004 issue of Middle East Policy examined the question of possible abuse of intelligence by the Bush Administration before the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

[edit] "Tabouleh" Line

He identified the Hezbollah defense during the Israel-Hezbollah July 2006 War not as classic guerilla tactics but as a defensive "belt" which he calls the "Tabouleh" Line. These were linked and fortified defensive positions integrated with the terrain and sited for mutual support. He had previously explored that concept in a paper written during the Cold War.[4] Lang has also applied an analytical criterion to determine who won the conflict:

"A basic lesson of history is that one must win on the battlefield to dictate the peace. A proof of winning on the battlefield has always been possession of that battlefield when the shooting stops. Those who remain on the field are just about always believed to have been victorious. Those who leave the field are believed to be the defeated."[5]

He agrees with news reports that Hezbollah is building a new "Tabouleh" line north of the Litani River on high ground just outside the UNIFIL separation zone. [5]

[edit] Iraq and A Concert of the Middle East

Lang is of the opinion that an American attack on Iran would have deadly repercussions on U.S. occupation troops in Iraq. This would be because "troops all over central and northern Iraq are supplied with fuel, food, and ammunition by truck convoy from a supply base hundreds of miles away in Kuwait. All but a small amount of our soldiers' supplies come into the country over roads that pass through the Shiite-dominated south of Iraq." Iraqi Shiia could easily interdict these supplies, not easily replaced by air, once hostilities start.[6]

He believes diplomacy has been underutilized in the Iraq crisis and a regional approach where all the parties talked and addressed their interests would be beneficial. The phrase "Concert of the Middle East" evokes that kind of harmonious settlement.

He has stated that the Surge Strategy is not new but is a revival of old French tactics of quadrillage implemented in Algeria.[6] [7]

[edit] Conflict with Iran

Lang interprets "the U.S. has no plans to bomb Iran" to mean that intensive planning is at an advanced stage but no final decision has been made to push the button. He says the forces are largely in place. The bombing could be carried out by naval air from the aircraft carriers in place, missiles from the screening ships of the carrier groups, and Air Force assets. He says there is dissension in the U.S. administration at high levels whether to bomb Iran, and it is possible for high level resignations to occur even in the uniformed services. He says the concentration of forces has a dual purpose, to prod Iran toward serious negotiations and to be there as a resort if negotiations fail.[8][9]

[edit] Books

  • Intelligence: The Human Factor, Chelsea House Publishers, Philadelphia, PA, 2004
  • The Butcher's Cleaver,(A Tale of the Confederate Secret Services.) Rosemont Books, 2007, ISBN 978-0595711857 Amazon link [10]

[edit] Articles

  • "Drinking the Koolaid," Middle East Policy Council, Middle East Policy Council, Washington, DC, Volume XI, Summer 2004, Number 2 .
  • "Wahhabism and Jihad," "America," New York, New York, March 10, 2003.
  • "Speaking Truth to Power," "America," New York, New York, August 4, 2003.
  • "Jackson's Valley Campaign and the Operational Level of War." Parameters Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, Army War College Winter 1985.
  • “The Best Defense Is…” Military Review Command and General Staff College, Ft. Leavenworth, KS August, 1976.
  • "Contemplating the Ifs..." (with Larry C. Johnson) "The National Interest" The Nixon Center, Washington, D.C., Number 83, Spring 2006.
  • "Dear Hearts Across The Seas" "America," New York, New York, May 29, 2006.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Holy Sepulcher web site
  2. ^ Bob Woodward (1991). The Commanders. ISBN 0-671-41367-8. 
  3. ^ [1] Senate Hearing Transcript
  4. ^ http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/files/thebestdefense.pdf
  5. ^ 'Just World News' with Helena Cobban: Lebanese war; post-war; role of UNIFIL
  6. ^ The vulnerable line of supply to US troops in Iraq | csmonitor.com

[edit] External links