Dame Sarah MacIntosh (born 7 August 1969) is a British

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

currently appointed British High Commissioner to Australia and Head of the United Kingdom’s Oceania Network from April 2025. She previously served as the

Deputy National Security Adviser The United States Deputy National Security Advisor is a member of the Executive Office of the President of the United States and the United States National Security Council, serving under the President's National Security Advisor. Among other res ...

and Prime Minister’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs from 2022 to 2024 and prior to that as High Commissioner to Sierra Leone, Ambassador to Liberia and British Ambassador to NATO from 2017 to 2022.

Biography

MacIntosh joined the

Foreign and Commonwealth Office The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is the ministry of foreign affairs and a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom. The office was created on 2 ...

(FCO) in 1991 and served at the UK missions to the UN in

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and

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, and in the British embassy in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. She was strategy coordinator for the UN mission in

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

2004–05, and High Commissioner to Sierra Leone (and non-resident Ambassador to Liberia) 2006–08. She then took a fellowship at the

Weatherhead Center for International Affairs The Weatherhead Center for International Affairs (WCFIA), formerly Center for International Affairs (CFIA) is a research center for international affairs and the largest international research center within Harvard University's Faculty of Arts a ...

at Harvard University 2008–09. She was Director, Strategic Finance at the FCO 2009–11, Director, Defence and International Security 2011–14, and Director General, Defence and Intelligence 2014–16.MacINTOSH, Sarah
''Who's Who 2016'', A & C Black, 2016 (online edition, Oxford University Press, 2015, accessed 23 Nov 2016) In November 2016 the FCO announced that she had been appointed Permanent Representative to the United Kingdom's Delegation to NATO. She took up the post in February 2017. Already

Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George I ...

(CMG), she was appointed

Dame Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III ...

(DCMG) in the

2020 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours for 2020 are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded ...

for services to British foreign policy.

References

External links

Profile
at Gov.uk website 1969 births Living people British women ambassadors Dames Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George High commissioners of the United Kingdom to Sierra Leone Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Liberia Permanent representatives of the United Kingdom to NATO {{UK-diplomat-stub