Nigel Inkster

Last updated

Nigel Norman Inkster CMG (born April 1956) [1] [2] is the former director of operations and intelligence for the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS, also known as MI6), [3] [4] and was until June 2017 the Director of Transnational Threats and Political Risk at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). Inkster remains a Senior Adviser for Cyber Security and China. He assists with IISS research that assesses the geopolitical and technological challenges posed by China. [5] [6] [7] [8]

Inkster was educated at Oxford and joined SIS in 1975, for which he served in posts in Kuala Lumpur, Athens, Buenos Aires, Bangkok, Beijing, and Hong Kong. He rose to become deputy to SIS chief Richard Dearlove, and was widely assumed to be in line for the top spot when Dearlove announced his departure in 2003 . The selection of John Scarlett instead of Inkster was the subject of considerable political controversy. [2] Inkster was a member of the SIS board for seven years before leaving SIS in 2006. [9]

In 2014, Inkster argued that the UK should not take part in direct military action in Syria, although supporting rebel forces was sensible. [9]

In 2017, Inkster was appointed to the Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace, and served on the commission until its successful conclusion in 2019, participating in the drafting of its eight norms related to non-aggression in cyberspace. Since August 2017 he has been Director of Geopolitical and Intelligence Analysis at London-based Enodo Economics [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Institute for Strategic Studies</span> British international affairs think tank

The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) is an international research institute or think tank focusing on defence and security issues. Since 1997, its headquarters have been at Arundel House in London. It has offices on four continents, producing data and research on questions of defence, security and global affairs, publishing publications and online analysis, and convening major security summits. The Guardian newspaper has described the IISS as ‘one of the world’s leading security think tanks.’

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MI5</span> British domestic intelligence agency

MI5, officially the Security Service, is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), and Defence Intelligence (DI). MI5 is directed by the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC), and the service is bound by the Security Service Act 1989. The service is directed to protect British parliamentary democracy and economic interests and to counter terrorism and espionage within the United Kingdom (UK).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mansfield Smith-Cumming</span> British secret service director (1859–1923)

Captain Sir Mansfield George Smith-Cumming was a British naval officer who served as the first chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Dearlove</span> Former head of MI6; Chair of the Board of Trustees at the University of London

Sir Richard Billing Dearlove is a retired British intelligence officer who was head of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), a role known informally as "C", from 1999 until 6 May 2004. He was head of MI6 during the invasion of Iraq. He was criticised by the Iraq Inquiry for providing unverified intelligence about weapons of mass destruction to the Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

Sir David Rolland Spedding was head of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) from 1994 to 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stratfor</span> American geopolitical advising firm

Strategic Forecasting Inc., commonly known as Stratfor, is an American strategic intelligence publishing company founded in 1996. Stratfor's business model is to provide individual and enterprise subscriptions to Stratfor Worldview, its online publication, and to perform intelligence gathering for corporate clients. The focus of Stratfor's content is security issues and analyzing geopolitical risk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SIS Building</span> Government office building in London, England

The SIS Building, also called the MI6 Building, at Vauxhall Cross houses the headquarters of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), also known as Military Intelligence, Section 6 (MI6), the United Kingdom's foreign intelligence agency. It is located at 85 Albert Embankment in Vauxhall, London, on the bank of the River Thames beside Vauxhall Bridge. The building has been the headquarters of the SIS since 1994.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ronald A. Marks</span>

Ronald Anthony MarksFRSA is a former senior Central Intelligence Agency official and Capitol Hill Staffer. He is currently Chairman and CEO of ZPN Cyber and National Security Strategies and an academic focused on Cyber and Intelligence policy issues. His book "Spying in America in the Post 9/11 World: Domestic Threat and the Need for Change," published by Praeger Publishing, focuses on the vast expansion of intelligence collection in America and the need for careful oversight.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Directorate General of Forces Intelligence</span> Defence intelligence section of the Bangladesh Armed Forces

The Directorate General of Forces Intelligence, commonly known by its acronym DGFI, is the defense intelligence agency of the Bangladesh Armed Forces, tasked with collection, collation and evaluation of strategic and topographic information, primarily through human intelligence (HUMINT). As one of the principal members of the Bangladesh intelligence community, the DGFI reports to the Director-General under the executive authority of the head of government, the Prime Minister, and is primarily focused on providing intelligence for the Prime Minister, the Cabinet of Bangladesh, and the Armed Forces of Bangladesh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Security and Intelligence Service of Moldova</span>

The Security and Intelligence Service (Romanian: Serviciul de Informații și Securitate, SIS) is a Moldovan state body specialized in ensuring national security by exercising all appropriate intelligence and counter-intelligence measures, such as: collecting, processing, checking and capitalizing the information needed to identify, prevent and counteract any actions that according to law represent an internal or external threat to independence, sovereignty, unity, territorial integrity, constitutional order, democratic development, internal security of the state, society and citizens, the statehood of the Republic of Moldova, the stable functioning of vitally important branches of the national economy, both on the territory of the Republic of Moldova and abroad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Five Eyes</span> Intelligence alliance

The Five Eyes (FVEY) is an anglosphere intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. These countries are party to the multilateral UK-USA Agreement, a treaty for joint cooperation in signals intelligence. Informally, "Five Eyes" can refer to the group of intelligence agencies of these countries. The term "Five Eyes" originated as shorthand for a "AUS/CAN/NZ/UK/US EYES ONLY" (AUSCANNZUKUS) releasability caveat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Directorate of Military Intelligence (United Kingdom)</span> Department of the War Office (1873–1964)

The Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) was a department of the British War Office.

Sir Robert John Sawers FRUSI is a British intelligence officer, diplomat and civil servant. He was Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), a position he held from November 2009 until November 2014. He was previously the British Permanent Representative to the United Nations from August 2007 to November 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service</span> British intelligence post

The chief of the Secret Intelligence Service serves as the head of the Secret Intelligence Service, which is part of the United Kingdom intelligence community. The chief is appointed by the foreign secretary, to whom they report directly. Annual reports are also made to the prime minister.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MI6</span> British intelligence agency

The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6, is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligence on foreign nationals in support of its Five Eyes partners. SIS is one of the British intelligence agencies and the Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service ("C") is directly accountable to the Foreign Secretary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gabi Siboni</span>

Gabriel "Gabi" Siboni is a colonel in the Israel Defense Forces Reserve service, and a senior research fellow and the director of the Military and Strategic Affairs and Cyber Security programs at the Institute for National Security Studies. Additionally, he serves as editor of the tri-yearly published, Military and Strategic Affairs academic journal at INSS. Siboni is a senior expert on national security, military strategy and operations, military technology, cyber warfare, and force buildup. Siboni is an Associate Professor, working specifically in the management of Cyber Security and a part-time lecturer at the Francisco de Vitoria University in Madrid

The Government of the United Kingdom maintains several intelligence agencies that deal with secret intelligence. These agencies are responsible for collecting, analysing and exploiting foreign and domestic intelligence, providing military intelligence, and performing espionage and counter-espionage. Their intelligence assessments contribute to the conduct of the foreign relations of the United Kingdom, maintaining the national security of the United Kingdom, military planning, public safety, and law enforcement in the United Kingdom. The four main agencies are the Secret Intelligence Service, the Security Service (MI5), the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and Defence Intelligence (DI). The agencies are organised under three government departments, the Foreign Office, the Home Office and the Ministry of Defence.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the United Kingdom. British citizens have fought as members of the group, and there has been political debate on how to punish them. On 26 September 2014, Parliament voted to begin Royal Air Force airstrikes against ISIL in northern Iraq at the request of the Iraqi government, which began four days later, using Tornado GR4 jets. On 2 December 2015, the UK Parliament authorised an extension to the Royal Air Force airstrike campaign, joining the US-led international coalition against ISIL in Syria. Hours after the vote, Royal Air Force Tornado jets began bombing ISIL-controlled oilfields.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alex Younger</span> British intelligence officer

Sir Alexander William Younger is a British intelligence officer who served as the Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), from 2014 to 2020. In April 2019, the government extended Younger's contract to maintain stability through the Brexit negotiations, which made him the longest-serving MI6 chief in 50 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Moore (diplomat)</span> British diplomat (born 1963)

Sir Richard Peter Moore is a British civil servant, currently chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and formerly Director General for Political Affairs, at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and previously the British ambassador to Turkey.

References

  1. ↑ "Inkster, Nigel Norman, Counsellor, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 1998". Who's Who. 2007. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u56110. ISBN   978-0-19-954088-4 . Retrieved 22 May 2021.
  2. 1 2 West, Nigel (2006). At Her Majesty's Secret Service: The Chiefs of Britain's Intelligence Agency, MI6. Naval Institute Press. pp. 264ff. ISBN   978-1591140092. Excerpts available at Google Books.
  3. ↑ "Nigel Inkster". The Guardian. London. 26 April 2011.
  4. ↑ "Ex MI-6 officer sees ISI's hand in Kabul embassy attack". The News International. 15 March 2012.
  5. ↑ "Nigel Inkster". International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).
  6. ↑ "Nigel Inkster". edX.
  7. ↑ Giegerich, Bastian (2010). Europe and Global Security (1st ed.). Routledge. p.  79. ISBN   978-0415669344.
  8. ↑ Roula Khalaf and Sam Jones (17 June 2014). "Selling terror: how Isis details its brutality". Financial Times. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
  9. 1 2 Mark Townsend (20 September 2014). "UK urged to avoid direct military action in Syria". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  10. ↑ "Who we are". Enodo Economics. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.