The National Security Adviser (NSA) is a senior official in the

Cabinet Office The Cabinet Office is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for supporting the prime minister and Cabinet. It is composed of various units that support Cabinet committees and which co-ordinate the delivery of government objecti ...

, based in

Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It is the main ...

, who serves as the principal adviser to the

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern pr ...

and

Cabinet of the United Kingdom The Cabinet of the United Kingdom is the senior decision-making body of His Majesty's Government. A committee of the Privy Council, it is chaired by the prime minister and its members include secretaries of state and other senior ministers. T ...

on all

national security National security, or national defence, is the security and defence of a sovereign state, including its citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of government. Originally conceived as protection against military atta ...

issues. The NSA post was created in May 2010 as part of the reforms that also saw the creation of the

National Security Council A national security council (NSC) is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security. An NSC is often headed by a na ...

. There have been six holders of the office to date, of whom two served more than three years in the post. The NSA is Secretary to the

, which is chaired by the Prime Minister, and head of National Security and Intelligence (National Security Secretariat), which is, in turn, part of the Cabinet Office. The NSA will also advise Secretaries of State and other senior government ministers on issues of national security when necessary. The NSA was the Senior Responsible Officer for the

Conflict, Stability and Security Fund The British Government created the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) on 1 April 2015, replacing the previous Conflict (Prevention) Pool. It is a pool of money, over £1 billion per year, for tackling conflict and instability overseas. R ...

, with a budget of over £1 billion. This role has been passed to the Deputy National Security Adviser. The first National Security Adviser (NSA) of the United Kingdom was

Sir Peter Ricketts Peter Forbes Ricketts, Baron Ricketts, (born 30 September 1952) is a retired British senior diplomat and a life peer. He has sat as a crossbencher in the House of Lords since 2016. Ricketts served as chair of the Joint Intelligence Commit ...

, who was previously

Permanent Secretary A permanent secretary (also known as a principal secretary) is the most senior Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil servant of a department or Ministry (government department), ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day ...

of the

Foreign and Commonwealth Office The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ministries of fore ...

and Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee. Ricketts was succeeded by Sir Kim Darroch in January 2012. On 7 July 2015, it was announced that Sir Mark Lyall Grant would replace Darroch as National Security Adviser in early September 2015. It was announced in June 2020 that Mark Sedwill will step down from his role as NSA in September, and that current chief Brexit negotiator,

David Frost Sir David Paradine Frost (7 April 1939 – 31 August 2013) was a British television host, journalist, comedian and writer. He rose to prominence during the satire boom in the United Kingdom when he was chosen to host the satirical programme ' ...

, will serve as the NSA. A FOI answer however, states that Frost continues as Chief Negotiator to the EU as of October 2020 and

David Quarrey David Quarrey (born 1966) is a British diplomat and the British Ambassador to NATO since 2022. He was formerly acting National Security Adviser, having taken over the role while David Frost continued as the United Kingdom's Chief Negotiator t ...

took over the role of acting NSA provisionally. The NSA is supported by at least two Deputy National Security Advisers, and serves at the pleasure of the Prime Minister.

List of National Security Advisers

List of Deputy National Security Advisers

''There can be more than one DNSA at one time; some DNSA's are given specific titles referring to their specific remit.'' # Julian Miller (2010–2015) #

Olly Robbins Sir Oliver Robbins (born 20 April 1975) is a former senior British civil servant who served as the Prime Minister's Europe Adviser and the chief Brexit negotiator from 2017 to 2019. He was a controversial figure among Brexit supporters. He pr ...

(2010–2014) # Hugh Powell (2013–2016) #

Paddy McGuinness Patrick Joseph McGuinness (born 14 August 1973) is an English actor, comedian and television presenter. He rose to fame with the help of Peter Kay, who invited him to appear in his programmes ''That Peter Kay Thing'', ''Phoenix Nights'' and ''Ma ...

(2014–2018) #

Gwyn Jenkins General Gwyn Jenkins, is a senior Royal Marines officer, serving as Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff since August 2022. He was concurrently appointed Commandant General Royal Marines in November 2022. Early life and education Jenkins was educate ...

(2015–2017) #

Christian Turner Christian Philip Hollier Turner (born 19 August 1972) is a British diplomat serving as Political Director of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office since 2023. He previously served as British High Commissioner to Pakistan from 2019 to ...

(2017–2019) # Richard Moore (2018) #

Madeleine Alessandri Madeleine Kay Alessandri (born 1965) is a British civil servant who has had a career in the security and diplomatic services. , she is the Permanent Secretary for the Northern Ireland Office, replacing Sir Jonathan Stephens following his retir ...

(2018–2020) #

(2019–2022) # Beth Sizeland (2020–2021) # Alex Ellis (2020–2021) # Andrew McCosh (2021–present) (Technology) #

Sarah MacIntosh Dame Sarah MacIntosh (born 7 August 1969) is a British diplomat who is the Deputy National Security Adviser for International Affairs. She previously served as High Commissioner to Sierra Leone, Ambassador to Liberia and British Ambassador t ...

(2022-present) (International Affairs) # Matt Collins (2022-present) (Intelligence, Defence and Security)

References

External links

National Security and Intelligence
{{NSA British Prime Minister's Office