Foreign Affairs

Simon Fraser

Permanent Secretary, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

As the National Security Council (NSC) has been evolving, the Home Office has been “looking at the types of subjects it has been taking”, home secretary Teresa May told the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy on Monday.

The Ministry of Defence is struggling to build a financial management system that determines a “single version of the financial truth” and there is a “high risk to delivery” of the department’s strategy for setting out clear management information (MI), according to the Defence Review Annual Report published yesterday by Lord Levene.

The Ministry of Defence is struggling to build a financial management system that determines a “single version of the financial truth” and there is a “high risk to delivery” of the department’s strategy for setting out clear management information (MI), according to the Defence Review Annual Report published yesterday by Lord Levene.

The sale of Ministry of Defence (MoD) radio frequences could raise £1bn, the Financial Times reported this week. Two radio bands are being sold, with two industry experts telling the newspaper that each is likely to net £4-500m.

A gathering of civil service chiefs from around the world has identified a need for western governments to strengthen their horizon-scanning and strategic planning capabilities, with former cabinet secretary Lord O’Donnell calling for the UK to commission think tanks to develop policy on some of the long-term issues that it’s “difficult” for governments to tackle.

The Ministry of Defence’s procurement arm – Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) – can only continue to offer current levels of service for the department if some jobs are outsourced, its boss Bernard Gray, chief of defence materiel, told the Commons’ Defence Committee yesterday.

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Tight rules control how troops can engage in combat; but the regime governing how former military figures can sell their skills and contacts to private companies are much weaker. Joshua Chambers assesses the system.

Now new permanent secretary Jon Thompson has his feet well under the table at the Ministry of Defence, he will be on the receiving end of a lot of good – and not so good – advice. I can offer a few thoughts about how the momentum of reform can best be maintained in a high-tempo department characterised by its preponderance of alpha personalities and diversity of vested interests.

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.