After a distinguished government career in defence, security and intelligence, Sir David Omand is now one of the leading figures in shaping the public debate on the national security framework. He was the first holder, in 2002, of the post of UK Security and Intelligence Coordinator, exercising overall direction on behalf of the Prime Minister of the national counter-terrorism strategy and as the Government’s chief crisis manager for civil contingencies, held responsibility for building national resilience. He also had responsibility for the supervision of the UK’s intelligence community including holding the budget for the UK’s three secret Intelligence Agencies.

Before that, Sir David was Permanent Secretary of the Home Office, having previously been Director of the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), the UK’s Signals intelligence agency. He spent much of his earlier career in the Ministry of Defence, including as Deputy Secretary for Policy, as Under Secretary in charge of the defence programme, and as Principal Private Secretary to the Secretary of State. He served for three years in Brussels on loan to the Diplomatic Service as Defence Counsellor to NATO. He served for seven years on the UK’s Joint Intelligence Committee.