Foreign Affairs

The Ministry of Defence’s new permanent secretary, Jon Thompson, tells Matt Ross how he intends to turn this most complex of Whitehall departments into a more professional operation – and dig it out of its financial hole

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has learned lessons about appropriate timescales and evidence-gathering from the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR), MoD permanent secretary Jon Thompson has told CSW, and work has already begun on a 2015 SDSR.

When Wikileaks founder Julian Assange sought asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy on 19 June, he created a dispute over when a diplomatic mission enjoys ‘inviolability’. The subject of an extradition request from Sweden for questioning on allegations of rape and sexual molestation, he’d exhausted legal remedies against his extradition when he entered the embassy, apparently with its prior agreement. So what does international law say?

The new secretary of state for international development, Justine Greening, has launched a “line by line” review of all UK aid spending.

From October a new cyber research institute hosted by University College London will begin a 3.5-year programme to investigate ways to improve cyber security.

The think tank contracted by the Cabinet Office to provide external policy advice on the future of civil service accountability has published research setting out its conclusions on the topic, CSW can reveal.

The decision by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to dismantle its Nimrod MRA4 maritime surveillance aircraft has created a gap in an essential defence capability, a report published today by the House of Commons Defence Select Committee has warned.

Cuts to civilian staff at the MoD are falling more heavily on the senior ranks, making the department less top-heavy. Tim Fish reports on the progress of its downsizing efforts compared to those of other departments

Spy stories are most commonly exhilarating, unnerving, erotic, and perhaps slightly eccentric. There’ll be a brutish, masculine hero, a fight scene or three, and a car that transforms into a fondue set. Understatement has little place in many movies of the genre, which is a little ironic given that the profession is built around calculation and intrigue.

The Ministry of Defence says it’s balanced its budget, and can now afford to honour all its spending commitments. But as Joshua Chambers reports, this has come at a cost both to personnel and to equipment programmes.

The Ministry of Defence wants its staff to use social media – but there’s always a danger that unguarded use will create a security risk. Suzannah Brecknell reports on how the MoD can both have its virtual cake, and eat it.

For Foreign Office chief Simon Fraser, his relationships around Whitehall are as crucial as those with Washington. His main mission is to increase trade, he tells Matt Ross, and that means working with a host of other departments

A senior Foreign Office official has warned that the UK’s economic standing in the world could be damaged if the British public ever voted to leave the European Union.

In an increasingly open society, even MI6 has to change the way it operates – and at Civil Service Live, the Secret Intelligence Service’s head Sir John Sawers made a rare public appearance. Joshua Chambers reports

Parliamentary efforts to hold government more closely to account include reforming how British intelligence agencies are overseen. Joshua Chambers reports on a committee walking the line between light and shade

The former chair of the Joint Intelligence Committee, Sir Richard Mottram, has come out against the idea that the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) could hold public hearings with the heads of Britain’s intelligence agencies.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) failed to plan out the skills it will need in the long term before cutting its civilian and military workforces, according a report published by the Public Accounts Committee on Friday.

The papers have been full of frothy stories and silly stereotypes about the civil service, says Mark Lowcock. This risks distracting us from the real – and very important – challenge of adapting to the tasks at hand

The civil service should be more confident in its ability to deal with the challenges facing it, Department for International Development permanent secretary Mark Lowcock has said in an article for CSW.

Andrew Manley, chief executive of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation, looks after the MoD’s £23bn estate – and he’s pushing through one of the most ambitious reform programmes in government. Matt Ross meets him

The chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee has been impressed by the FCO’s work, and applauds many of the coalition’s foreign policies. But he tells Joshua Chambers that the cuts risk damaging our overseas capabilities

The MoD reforms make sense; the carrier cuts do not

The Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) is in competition with ministers’ special advisers, friends, think tanks and other groups, NICS permanent secretary Malcolm McKibbin has said, and must demonstrate to politicians that its advice is the highest quality if ministers “are to properly value our information and our service.”