Sir David Bruce Omand (born 15 April 1947) is a British former senior civil servant who served as the Director of the Government Communications Headquarters ( GCHQ) from 1996 to 1997.

Background

Omand was born on 15 April 1947. His father, Bruce, was a Justice of the Peace. Omand was educated at Glasgow Academy and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, receiving an

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics anal ...

degree.

Career

Omand began his career at GCHQ.Aldrich, David, ''GCHQ'', Harper Press, 2010, , p.495 After working for the Ministry of Defence for a number of years, Omand was appointed Director of GCHQ from 1996 to 1997. His next post was

Permanent Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office The Permanent Under-Secretary of State of the Home Office is the permanent secretary of the Home Office, the most senior civil servant in the department, charged with running its affairs on a day-to-day basis. Home Office Permanent Secretaries * ...

. Omand was appointed a

Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

(KCB) in the 2000 New Year Honours. In 2002 he became the first Permanent Secretary and

Security and Intelligence Co-ordinator The Intelligence Co-ordinator, later Security and Intelligence Co-ordinator was a senior post in the Cabinet Office of the British Civil Service that oversaw the Intelligence agency, intelligence services and their relationship to the UK government ...

in the Cabinet Office. Omand was among those who decided that David Kelly should be pursued for talking to the media about the Government's dossier on Iraq's alleged WMD. Omand and Kevin Tebbit, then permanent secretary at the Ministry of Defence, recommended to Jack Straw and Tony Blair that John Scarlett become the new head of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). In 2003 Omand participated in the development of the United Kingdom's general counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST. Omand was promoted to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) in the

2004 Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours 2004 for the Commonwealth realms were announced on 11 June 2004 for the United Kingdom, New Zealand, the Cook IslandsCook Islands list: and elsewhere to celebrate the Queen's Birthday of 2004. The recipients of honours are ...

. He retired from the Cabinet Office in April 2005. In 2007, he obtained Maths and

Physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which ...

degrees from

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's underg ...

. In 2009 he was asked by the

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all nationa ...

, Alan Johnson, to carry out a review into the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs to "satisfy ministers" that the council is "discharging the functions" that it is supposed to. On 20 January 2010, Omand gave evidence to the Iraq Inquiry. In 2013 he defended the closeness of Britain's intelligence relationship with the US, telling

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC's ...

's '' Today'' programme: "We have the brains. They have the money. It's a collaboration that's worked very well." Since leaving the government, Omand has landed jobs with several military-related companies. He has been a non-executive director at UK arms company Babcock International and Italian arms company Leonardo-Finmeccanica and has also worked as an adviser to the Society of British Aerospace Companies. In October 2020, he authored a book titled, ''How Spies Think: Ten Lessons in Intelligence''; a book covering his views on long-term intelligence analysis gained from his experience working with British governments from

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...

to Tony Blair.

Links with academia

Omand is currently a visiting professor at King's College London and is a vice-president of the

Royal United Services Institute The Royal United Services Institute (RUSI, Rusi), registered as Royal United Service Institute for Defence and Security Studies and formerly the Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies, is a British defence and security think tank ...

. Omand's second book applies the idea of

Just War theory The just war theory ( la, bellum iustum) is a doctrine, also referred to as a tradition, of military ethics which is studied by military leaders, theologians, ethicists and policy makers. The purpose of the doctrine is to ensure that a war i ...

to intelligence. Omand participated in TEDxLambeth, a conference based in

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area e ...

, where he spoke about ideas from his book'', How Spies Think: Ten Lessons in Intelligence'', in October 2020.

Personal life

Omand married Elizabeth Wales in 1971 with whom he has two children. He is a member of the Reform Club. He served a four-year term on the board of the

Natural History Museum, London The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum an ...

, starting in 2006. He remains a trustee.

References

External links

November 2013 interview with Ormand
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Omand, David Living people 1947 births Academics of King's College London Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Civil servants in the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom) Directors of the Government Communications Headquarters Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath People educated at the Glasgow Academy Permanent Secretaries of the Cabinet Office Permanent Under-Secretaries of State for the Home Department