Sir Kevin Reginald Tebbit (born 18 October 1946)"TEBBIT, Sir Kevin Reginald (1946 - )", ''Debrett's People of Today'', 2004 is a former British civil servant.

Career

He was educated at the

Cambridgeshire High School for Boys The Cambridgeshire High School for Boys was founded as the Cambridge and County School for Boys in Cambridge, England, in 1900. History It was later the Cambridge and County High School for Boys, and then finally the Cambridgeshire High School ...

and was a senior history scholar at

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corporation established by a charter dated 9 April 1511. The ...

. Tebbit joined the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in state ...

in 1969 and in 1972 became assistant private secretary to the

Secretary of State for Defence The secretary of state for defence, also referred to as the defence secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the business of the Ministry of Defence. The incumbent is a membe ...

. At the Ministry of Defence Tebbit was concerned with defence plans and policy for Britain's nuclear forces. Tebbit served as the first secretary to the United Kingdom's delegation to

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two N ...

, in Brussels between 1979 and 1982. A second posting abroad saw Tebbit join the

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * Unit ...

's East European and Soviet Department, and serve as the head of chancery at the British Embassy in Turkey. From 1987 to 1988 Tebbit was the director of cabinet to the then

Secretary General of NATO The secretary general of NATO is the chief civil servant of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The officeholder is an international diplomat responsible for coordinating the workings of the alliance, leading NATO's international staff ...

Lord Carrington Peter Alexander Rupert Carington, 6th Baron Carrington, Baron Carington of Upton, (6 June 1919 – 9July 2018), was a British Conservative Party politician and hereditary peer who served as Defence Secretary from 1970 to 1974, Foreign Secretar ...

and served as the politico-military counsellor at the

British Embassy, Washington The British Embassy, Washington D.C. (alternatively in the US, Embassy of the United Kingdom, Washington, D.C.) is the British sovereign's diplomatic mission to the United States of America, representing the interests of the United Kingdom and B ...

from 1988 to 1991. Upon his return to the United Kingdom in 1992 Tebbit served in a variety of roles at the Foreign Office, including as the head of the economic relations department, director of resources and the chief inspector responsible for finance and organisational planning. From January to July 1998, Tebbit was Director of the

Government Communications Headquarters Government Communications Headquarters, commonly known as GCHQ, is an intelligence and security organisation responsible for providing signals intelligence (SIGINT) and information assurance (IA) to the government and armed forces of the Uni ...

, the British intelligence agency specialising in

signals intelligence Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is intelligence-gathering by interception of '' signals'', whether communications between people (communications intelligence—abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly used in communication ...

and

cyber security Computer security, cybersecurity (cyber security), or information technology security (IT security) is the protection of computer systems and networks from attack by malicious actors that may result in unauthorized information disclosure, the ...

. Following this he became the

Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Defence The Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Defence, also called the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Defence, is the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Defence. The office holder is the government's principal civilian adviser on Defence ...

before retiring in November 2005 to take up posts in industry and academia. He is a governor of the conference-organising

Ditchley Foundation The Ditchley Foundation is a foundation that holds conferences, with a primary focus on British-American relations. It is based at Ditchley Park near Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire. It was established as a privately funded charity in 1958 by phil ...

, based at Chipping Norton. He is also Visiting Professor at The Policy Institute at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

. He was a non-executive director of private intelligence company the

Smiths Group Smiths Group plc is a British, multinational, diversified engineering business headquartered in London, England. It operates in over 50 countries and employs 14,600 staff. Smiths Group has its origins in a jewellery shop, ''S Smith & Sons'', ...

from 2006 to 2018. Tebbit gave evidence to The Iraq Inquiry on both 3 December 2009 and 3 February 2010. Tebbit is a supporter of

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

, his hobbies include music and archeology. He is married with two children.

References

External links

Video: Tebbit's evidence to the Iraq Inquiry in 2009
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tebbit, Kevin 1946 births Living people Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Civil servants in the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom) Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Directors of the Government Communications Headquarters Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Permanent Under-Secretaries of State for Defence Place of birth missing (living people)