Jonathan Allen (Diplomat)
Jonathan Allen has been the director for National Security at the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office since January 2015. He was previously the British Ambassador to Bulgaria from January 2011 until December 2014 and head of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's East Africa and Great Lakes department until the second half of 2011. ref name="FCO"> FCO, Change of Her Majesty's Ambassador to Bulgaria 21 December 2010, accessed 8 April 2011 </ref>
Allen is also a former head of the Research, Information and Communications Unit (RICU), which is a counter terrorism strategy in the United Kingdom.[1] The RICU began after the proposed terrorist plans to detonate liquid explosives aboard transatlantic airline flights in 2006. It is managed by the Home Office, Department for Communities and Local Government, and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Allen held this role between 2007-09. [1]
Biography
- May 2009 – 2011 FCO, Head, Africa Department (East Africa, Great Lakes, Strategy)
- 2007 – 2009 Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism, Head of Research, Information and Communications Unit
- 2006 – 2007 Home Office, Assistant Director, International Directorate
- 2003 – 2006 UKRep Brussels, Government Spokesman
- 2002 – 2003 FCO, Head of Cyprus Section
- 1999 – 2002 Nicosia, Second Secretary (Political/Press)
- 1998 – 1999 FCO, Full-time Greek language training
- 1997 - 1998 FCO, Common Foreign and Security Policy Department
- 1997 Joined the FCO
