Adrian Bird

Adrian was appointed as Chief of Defence Intelligence (CDI) in the Ministry of Defence in September 2022 after a career spanning almost 30 years at the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), the UK’s intelligence, security and cyber agency, where he held a variety of operational, liaison and policy roles culminating in two consecutive Director-General positions on the GCHQ Board between 2015 and 2022. In his last GCHQ role he led for GCHQ in the creation of the National Cyber Force, a defence and intelligence partnership.

A graduate of Oxford University, Adrian is married with six children. In his spare time he enjoys running, snowboarding, military history, board games, and collecting and painting toy soldiers.