Walter Patrick "Pat" Lang, Jr. is a commentator on the Middle East, a retired US Army officer and private intelligence analyst, and an author. After leaving uniformed military service as a colonel, he held high-level posts in military intelligence as a civilian. He led intelligence analysis of the Middle East and South Asia for the Defense Department and world-wide HUMINT activities in a high-level equivalent to the rank of a lieutenant general.
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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 Sepulchre, 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.
His uncle is John H. Lang, who served in both World Wars and during the interwar period, with Canadian and U.S. military forces. He received military honors for his actions and bravery from the United Kingdom, United States and Japan.
While serving in the US Army, Lang graduated from 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 the United States' overseas conflicts. During the Vietnam War, he served in the Special Forces and Military Intelligence.[2]
He was trained and educated as a specialist in the Middle East 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.[4] At the DIA, he was a member of the Defense Senior Executive Service. 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 President George H. W. Bush at the White House, as he had during Operation Desert Storm. Lang was responsible 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.[5]
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 promoted 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." In 2006, Lang was appointed to the foundation's board of directors. Lang edits a personal blog Sic Semper Tyrannis on the subjects of intelligence gathering and analysis, military affairs, and war and peace.
Since his retirement from the US Army, Lang has published many articles on intelligence, special operations and the Islamic World.
Lang has written and discussed the Israel-Hezbollah July 2006 War, in which he described the Hezbollah defense as a defensive belt which he called the "Tabouleh Line". In an interview with Helena Cobban, he said:
In 2006, Lang said that he thought an American attack on Iran would have deadly repercussions on U.S. occupation troops in Iraq. He noted that "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.[7]
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 dissent 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]
Defense Superior Service Medal(with Oak Leaf Cluster)
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| |Bronze Star(with Oak Leaf Cluster) |
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| Meritorious Service Medal (with two Oak Leaf Clusters) |
| |Army Commendation Medal (with valor) |
Joint Service Commendation Medal
| Expert Infantryman Badge |
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