Donald Steinberg

In 1997, Steinberg sent a dissent cable (entitled "Dissent Against U.S. Positions on Landmines at Oslo APL Conference") that criticized a State Department instruction directing ambassadors in the developing world to press other governments to weaken anti-personnel landmine measures in the Ottawa Treaty (which was then under negotiation) by allowing "the United States and presumably other countries to exercise numerous waivers, exempt anti-tank weapons, exclude South Korea, and accept lengthy implementation timeframes." In his cable, Steinberg referred to the U.S. position as "indefensible, filled with contradictions, and inconsistent with true U.S. national security and foreign policy interests" and referred to the devastating effects of mines on civilian populations after the Angolan Civil War, writing, "How can America's global responsibilities and foreign policy interests dictate that we protect weapons so horrible and barbaric that virtually all our closest allies are seeking a global treaty to eliminate them without delay?" The cable was declassified in 2020, and Steinberg wrote an article regarding it in Just Security. He noted that the U.S. government conformed to the "basic precepts" of the Ottawa Convention from the time it came into force in 1999 until the Donald Trump administration reversed course in 2020, allowing the U.S. military to make greater use of such landmines; Steinberg called that move reckless and irresponsible.

When he arrived as U.S. Ambassador to Angola in 1995, it was his opinion that the people working for the American oil companies “were, in fact, the American ambassadors to Angola in that period. ... The only real relationship was through the oil companies.”

Donald K. Steinberg (born March 25, 1953) is an American diplomat who was the U.S. Ambassador to Angola. He is also the former president and CEO of World Learning.

Steinberg was born in Los Angeles, California on March 25, 1953. He received a master's degrees in journalism from Columbia University and economic development from the University of Toronto, as well as a bachelor's degree in economics from Reed College.