Brook Francis Barrington is a New Zealand public servant and former diplomat, who is currently serving as chief executive of the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

and Secretary of Defence. He has previously served as chief executive of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Early life and education

Barrington was awarded a PhD in history from the University of Auckland in 1993. His thesis on the transformation of New Zealand's foreign policy from 1944 to 1954 was supervised by Nicholas Tarling. Barrington's marriage to Gillian, a nurse, ended with her death in 2023.

Career

Barrington began his public service career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) in 1990. He had diplomatic postings in

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

and, as deputy head of mission to the European Union, in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

from 1999 to 2002. He was seconded as a foreign policy, trade and defence advisor at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC) until his appointment as the Ambassador of New Zealand to Thailand, which he held from 2006 until 2009. After leaving MFAT, Barrington held deputy chief executive positions at the

and

Ministry of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

. He returned to MFAT as chief executive in 2015 and was credited with "restoring order" to the department after a "controversial" restructuring process.

State Services Commissioner The Public Service Commission (PSC; ), called the State Services Commission until 2020, is the central public service department of New Zealand charged with overseeing, managing, and improving the performance of the public sector organisations ...

Peter Hughes reassigned Barrington to the head of DPMC in 2019 as part of a series of high-profile transfers between departments. Barrington took family leave from DPMC from March 2023 and resigned his substantive role in January 2024. He was soon after appointed for a short term as acting chief executive of MFAT. He was announced as the chief executive of the

on 5 June 2024 and appointed to a five-year term.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barrington, Brook 1965 births Living people Ambassadors of New Zealand to Thailand Ambassadors of New Zealand to Cambodia New Zealand public servants New Zealand chief executives