Adrian Bird
British civil servant, and intelligence officer - Chief of Defence Intelligence since 2022
Adrian Philip Bird CB is a senior British civil servant who has served as Chief of Defence Intelligence (CDI) at the Ministry of Defence since September 2022.[1]
Career
Bird joined GCHQ and served in a variety of operational, liaison and policy roles. He rose to become a Director-General on the GCHQ Board, holding two consecutive Director-General positions between 2015 and 2022. In his final GCHQ role he led the agency's contribution to the creation of the National Cyber Force, a joint defence and intelligence partnership.[2]
He was appointed Chief of Defence Intelligence in September 2022, succeeding General Sir ]]James Hockenhull]]. He is the first non-military officer to hold the post.[1]
Statement on Salisbury
In a witness statement dated 10 September 2024 to the Dawn Sturgess Inquiry, Adrian Bird described the role of Defence Intelligence (DI) following the 2018 Salisbury and Amesbury alleged Novichok incidents:
- "After the events in Salisbury, Amesbury, DI's role was to provide in-depth all-source analysis and technical expertise into the Joint Intelligence Organisation's (JIO's) products, and processes, as the Cabinet Office were the lead organisation for cross-HMG analysis and communications for these incidents."[3]
He went on:
- The National Centre for Geospatial Intelligence (NCGI) is the National Lead for Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT) and Defence lead for open source intelligence. It is the primary provider to the MOD and its partners of authoritative global geospatial data, GEOINT expertise, analysis and services, imagery intelligence, deployable geographic technicians and military mapping. DI personnel acted as enablers and liaison officers, facilitating, the dissemination of mapping and geospatial products created by the Tactical team to military commanders running the operation and partner agencies, while-also gathering relevant data from partner agencies to support Defence activities. [3]
He added that DI produced assessments placing the events "in the context of Russia's use of 'hybrid' levers of influence around the world" and that these were "written primarily for the situational awareness of MOD decision-makers".[3]
Bird also claimed that Defence Intelligence had been aware of Novichok agents as a concern since the 1990s through open-source reporting and intelligence.[3]
Resources
- Statement on Salisbury: https://dsiweb-prod.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/INQ006104.pdf
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Adrian Bird appointed new Chief of Defence Intelligence, GOV.UK, 22 July 2022.
- ↑ Adrian Bird CB, DGI 2027 speaker profile.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Witness statement of Adrian Bird to the Dawn Sturgess Inquiry, 10 September 2024, INQ006104.