Sir Kevin Tebbit KCB CMG

Replacing David Omand as the Director of GCHQ in January 1998, Kevin Tebbit would serve only a short tenure as Director. Even so, as Professor John Ferris writes in our Authorised History ‘Behind the Enigma’, ‘he calmed nerves which were palpitating over transformation.’ Kevin Reginald Tebbit was born on the 18th October 1946 and was educated at the Cambridgeshire High School for Boys, before going on to read History at St John’s College, Cambridge.

His career began when he joined the Ministry of Defence (MOD) in 1969, but ten years later he transferred to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) where he served in a number of high-level roles, both at home and abroad. This included stints as the First Secretary of the British delegation to NATO, Director of Cabinet to Lord Carrington, the then NATO Secretary General, as well as Deputy Under Secretary for Defence and Intelligence. Tebbit was Director of GCHQ for just six months between January and July 1998 before taking on the role of Permanent Secretary of the MOD from 1998 to 2005. He retired from the Civil Service in 2005.

Sir Kevin is currently now engaged in business, academia and advisory roles. He is a visiting Professor at the Policy Institute in King's College London, and is a Distinguished Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). He also serves as a Non-Executive Director at Smiths Group plc.