W. Patrick Lang



Walter Patrick "Pat" Lang, Jr. (born May 31, 1940) 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.

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 Sepulchre, a Roman Catholic chivalric order, in which he holds the rank of Knight Commander.

Personal life
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.

Military service
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.

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.

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. 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.

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.

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 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.

Selected writings
Since his retirement from the US Army, Lang has published many articles on intelligence, special operations and the Islamic World.
 * "Drinking the Koolaid", Middle East Policy Journal, August 2004. In 2004, he wrote that members of the Bush Administration manipulated intelligence analysis to strengthen the case for the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

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:


 * "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."

Iraq and the Middle East
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.

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 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.

Legacy and honors
Joint Service Commendation Medal

Special Forces Tab

Books

 * Intelligence: The Human Factor, Chelsea House Publishers, Philadelphia, PA, 2004 - a social sciences textbook on Human Intelligence Collection Operations (HUMINT).

Fiction:
 * The Butcher's Cleaver (Volume One of the "Strike the Tent" trilogy), Rosemont Books, 2007, ISBN 978-0-595-47476-9
 * Death Piled Hard (Volume Two of the "Strike the Tent" trilogy). iUniverse, 2009 ISBN 978-1-4401-2388-7
 * Down The Sky (Volume Three of the "Strike the Tent" trilogy). iUniverse, 2012 ISBN 978-1-4697-7179-3

Articles

 * "Drinking the Koolaid", Middle East Policy Journal, 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.