Charles Farr
Charles Farr is Director General of the Office for Security and Counter Terrorism at the Home Office.[1]
Farr joined the Diplomatic Service in 1985, serving in South Africa and Jordan.[2]
According to the Sunday Times, Farr was a career MI6 officer, who worked with MI5 on joint operations in the Middle East, and rose to become 'CT' - head of the service's counter-terrorism department.[3]
Between 2003 and 2007 he held a number of senior posts in Whitehall dealing with security and counter-terrorism.[4]
Farr took up his post as Director General of the Office for Security and Counter Terrorism on 16 July 2007.[5] The new appointment led to a downgrading of the role of the Security Adviser to the Prime Minister in the Cabinet Office.[6]
In September 2008, Farr was tipped to succeed John Scarlett as head of MI6.[7]
In February 2009, Farr told a private briefing of MPs that CIA agents were working on counter-terrorism in the UK.[8] A redacted version of his evidence was published by the Home Affairs Select Committee in June 2009.[9]
In March 2009, Farr delivered the annual Colin Cramphorn Memorial Lecture at Policy Exchange.[10]
Views
On Scotland
In a June 2008 interview withHolyrood magazine, Farr said that independence would not necessarily make Scotland more vulnerable to terrorism:
- It is not something that has crossed my mind that there is something inherent about independence that would make Scotland unsafe. I would add that there is nothing inherent about independence that would make Scotland more safe, either. That’s quite an important point.[11]
Notes
- ↑ Appointment Of Director General Of The Office For Security & Counter-Terrorism, Home Office, 6 July 2007.
- ↑ Appointment Of Director General Of The Office For Security & Counter-Terrorism, Home Office, 6 July 2007.
- ↑ David Leppard, Terror chief tipped to head MI6, Sunday Times, 21 September 2008.
- ↑ Appointment Of Director General Of The Office For Security & Counter-Terrorism, Home Office, 6 July 2007.
- ↑ Appointment Of Director General Of The Office For Security & Counter-Terrorism, Home Office, 6 July 2007.
- ↑ Michael Evans and Richard Ford, New anti-terror chief is building elite team, The Times, 30 August 2007.
- ↑ David Leppard, Terror chief tipped to head MI6, Sunday Times, 21 September 2008.
- ↑ Alan Travis, CIA at work in UK, anti-terror chief tells MPs, guardian.co.uk, 2 October 2009.
- ↑ Project CONTEST: The Government’s Counter-Terrorism Strategy (pdf), Home Affairs Select Committee, House of Commons, 29 June 2009.
- ↑ The Third annual Colin Cramphorn Memorial Lecture, Policy Exchange, 7 August 2009.
- ↑ Mandy Rhodes, Tough on terror, Holyrood, Issue 193, 16 June 2008, p21.
