Steve Lang is a veteran diplomat and international tech policy leader. He was confirmed by the Senate as U.S. Coordinator of International Communications and Information Policy with the rank of Ambassador on May 14, 2024, and served in that role until July 25, 2025. He concurrently served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Information and Communications Policy from November 2022. As Coordinator, Steve led U.S. delegations to numerous international conferences and negotiations, including the 2023 World Radiocommunications Conference and other International Telecommunication Union meetings, the G7 and G20 digital tracks, APEC, and OECD. He served as a member of the ITU’s Advisory Body on Submarine Cable Resilience and on the board of the U.S. Telecommunications Training Institute.
In addition, Steve helped lead the formation of the State Department’s Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy. He directed the expansion of U.S. government advocacy to promote trusted ICT infrastructure from 5G wireless networks to include subsea cables, data centers, cloud services, and satellite communications. He also coordinated interagency campaigns on digital regulatory issues like data localization and network usage fees and oversaw increased State Department engagement on technical standards.
In his 30-year career as a U.S. diplomat, Steve served in Japan, Mexico, China, Taiwan, Thailand, and Cuba. As the Minister-Counselor for Economic and Scientific Affairs at U.S. Embassy Tokyo, he led advocacy to strengthen Japanese cooperation of secure telecommunications, including promotion of OpenRAN, and initiated consultations on semiconductor supply chains. In Washington, he served as the Deputy Director of the Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs, where he managed the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue. As a Senior Analyst in the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office of Japan, Korea, and APEC Affairs, Steve supported negotiations of the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement and 2011 U.S. host year for APEC.
Currently, Steve is also a Non-Resident Senior Associate with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). In addition, he serves on the External Advisory Board of NSF Spectrum X and the Advisory Council for the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue University.
Steve speaks Chinese, Japanese, and Spanish. Before joining the State Department, he worked as an economist for the Bureau of Labor Statistics. He graduated from Georgetown University magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.