Jonathan Evans

Jonathan Evans
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service	MI5
Active	1980-
Rank	Director-General of MI5
Born	c. 1958
Nationality	British
Occupation	Intelligence officer
Alma mater	Bristol University

Jonathan Evans (born c. 1958) is Director General of the MI5, the UK's domestic security and counter-intelligence service. He took over the role on the retirement of his predecessor Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller on 21 April, 2007.^[1]

Career

Having graduated from Bristol University where he took classical studies,^[2] Evans joined MI5 in 1980, and initially worked in counter espionage.^[3] In 1985 he moved to the protective security function (safeguarding MI5's own personnel and the service's secrets) before switching to domestic counter-terrorism in the late 1980s.^[3] For more than a decade he was involved with the effort to combat the domestic threat of groups such as the Provisional IRA during The Troubles.

In 1999, with that risk greatly abated, Evans moved to G-Branch,^[4] the section of MI5 which deals with international terrorism. There he became an expert on al-Qaeda^[5] and other branches of Islamic terrorism. He rose to head the section in 2001 (only a few days before the September 11, 2001 attacks), a position which put him on the service's board of management. In 2005, he became Deputy Director-General before being promoted to head the organisation in 2007.

In November 2007 he talked publicly about the threat the UK faces from digital espionage.^[6] He is an ex-officio Member of the Council of the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies where he spoke on National Security in February 2008. He has a Certificate in Company Direction from the Institute of Directors.

See also

• MI6, the overseas counterpart to MI5
• Joint Intelligence Committee, to which MI5 reports

References

External links

• Biography at MI5 website