Adrian Bird has been appointed as chair of the Joint Intelligence Committee and head of the Joint Intelligence Organisation.
He will replace Dame Madeleine Alessandri, who is stepping down after three years in the role.
Bird, who will take up the roles on 3 July, is currently chief of defence intelligence at the Ministry of Defence, and has previously held senior positions at the Government Communication Headquarters.
As chair of JIC, he will lead a cross-government committee responsible for providing ministers and senior officials with timely intelligence assessments on critical strategic national security issues, and report to the cabinet secretary.
He will also lead a multidisciplinary team of expert officials in the JIO, providing real time security and risk assessments and advice to ministers and the prime minister, and helping to develop government policies to keep the country safe and secure.
Bird described the move as “an honour” and thanked Alessandri for leaving the JIO in a “strong position”.
“I look forward to building on this and working with the team to meet the future challenges,” he added. “I wish Madeleine a well-deserved retirement.”
Alessandri said it had been a “privilege” to chair the JIC and “an honour to work with the brilliant people across the breadth of the UK national security system who enable assessments that are rigorous, impartial, and relevant to the challenges we face as a country”.
She also expressed delight at the appointment of Bird to an “extraordinary role – at an extraordinary moment in our 90 year history”.
“Amid unprecedented volatility in geopolitics and exponential advances in technology, clear-eyed assessment to reduce uncertainty for policymakers at moments of critical decision has never been more important,” Alessandri added.
The appointment was made by the cabinet secretary, Dame Antonia Romeo, with the approval of the prime minister, Keir Starmer.
Romeo said Bird’s “extensive” national security experience at the MoD and GCHQ makes him “an excellent fit to lead the dedicated security officials in the JIO, and to provide expert advice to the prime minister to keep the UK safe and secure”.
Bird joined government service in 1993 and held a wide variety of positions in GCHQ and FCDO culminating in two successive GCHQ director general posts before he moved to the MoD.
He has been chief of defence intelligence at the MoD since 2022 and was the first civilian to hold this role, which was previously held by military personnel. His successor at the MoD will be Lieutenant-General Matthew Jones.
Romeo also thanked Alessandri for her “brilliant leadership” as JIC chair over the last three years, and her “contribution to the wider civil service leadership”.