Air Commodore Tim Neal-Hopes

Born in Weston-Super-Mare and schooled in Bristol, Neal-Hopes was commissioned into the Royal Air Force in 1990.  He spent his initial Service years as a University Cadet reading Electronic and Electrical Engineering at Salford University, and thereafter undertook officer and engineer training at Royal Air Force College Cranwell, entering his first tour in 1996.  Air Commodore Neal-Hopes has since served in a wide range of Communications Engineer and Intelligence-related appointments, both in the UK and overseas.  Cyber operations, intelligence, information operations and information system engineering, interspersed with tours supporting deployed operations, have characterised his career to date. Neal-Hopes has repeatedly immersed himself in academia, having completed an MSc at Essex University in Computer and Network Security; an MBA with the Open University; and an MA in Defence Studies.  He also served as a lecturer where his interest in network security and malware were put to good use in expanding the practical and theoretical aspects of cyber operations and training.  Neal-Hopes also attended the United States Air Force’s highly regarded School of Advanced Air and Space Studies where he read for an MPhil in Air Power and International Relations.  In anyone suffers from insomnia, his thesis “Preventing a Cyber Dresden: How the Lessons of Air Power can Influence the Development of Cyber Power” has been published in book form. OF5 tours included: command of the Joint Service Signals Organisation; Cyber Joint User / Deputy Head of Cyber Policy where he had responsibility for managing Defence’s Cyber Programme; and a tour as Director Non-Lethal Effects in Iraq as part of Operation Inherent Resolve.  2017 saw Neal-Hopes return to lead the Joint User area as Head Joint User C4ISR and Cyber.