Walter Patrick "Pat" Lang, Jr. (May 31, 1940 - April 5 , 2023)[1] was a commentator on the Middle East, a retired US Army officer and private intelligence analyst, and an author.

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.

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.

His uncle is John H. Lang, who served in both World Wars and during the interwar period, with Canadian and U.S. military forces.

[3] As reported by The Chicago Tribune, he wrote that intercepted radio transcripts that showed the Israeli Defense Forces knew they were attacking an American ship during the 1967 USS Liberty incident were used as “course material” in an advanced class for intelligence officers on the clandestine interception of voice transmissions: “The flight leader spoke to his base to report that he had the ship in view, that it was the same ship that he had been briefed on and that it was clearly marked with the U.S. flag.” He said the same thing in a later interview: “The flight commander was reluctant.

[7] After leaving government service, he joined Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, but left that group over policy differences.

[citation needed] 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.

Lang edited a personal blog Sic Semper Tyrannis on the subjects of intelligence gathering and analysis, military affairs, and war and peace.

The 406-page autobiography offers a first-hand account of some of the most important events of the 20th century, starting with his uncle John Lang's Navy service in China during the pre-World War II period, his father's Army service in the Philippines and Germany, and Lang's own lengthy career after graduating from Virginia Military Institute, first in Army Special Forces, later in Military Intelligence and the Defense Intelligence Agency.

Lang's account of his two tours of duty in Vietnam are vivid and capture the agony of that conflict from both a personal and strategic standpoint.

In 2021 Lang published an updated book-length version of an earlier work under the title "The Human Factor: The Phenomena of Espionage."

In December 2022, Lang released an anthology of his writings on intelligence, the Iraq War, Islam, the Middle East, and other critical topics.

The volume, published by iUniverse, featured previously unpublished historical fiction, as well as his most important writings and speeches.

In this book Claude Devereux, who like his whole family in Alexandria does neither support slavery nor secession, is forced by events into his role as Confederate agent.