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🎙️ Podcast Summary — The Security Circle Big Scoop: Sir David Omand

In this episode, I sit down with Sir David Omand, one of the UK’s most accomplished intelligence leaders, for a rare deep dive into a career at the very heart of national security.

From Director of GCHQ to UK Security & Intelligence Coordinator reporting directly to the Prime Minister, Sir David has shaped strategies that defined Britain’s response to crises — from 9/11 to modern cyber threats.

We explore:
🔹 How spies really think — and the decision-making frameworks that apply to all of us
🔹 The creation of the UK’s counter-terrorism strategy (CONTEST) and lessons from 9/11
🔹 What went wrong with Iraq intelligence and how the community rebuilt trust
🔹 The digital revolution in intelligence — from Morse code to AI and disinformation
🔹 Why resilience is as much about individuals and businesses as governments
🔹 His philosophy on staying relevant after decades at the top

This conversation goes beyond history — it’s about the future of intelligence, the rise of AI, and how leaders everywhere can anticipate, adapt, and survive crisis.

👉 Tune in for a candid, insightful, and surprisingly human look inside the world of intelligence with Sir David Omand.

Sir David Omand GCB

Visiting Professor, War Studies Department

King’s College, London

Sir David is a Visiting Professor in the War Studies Department, King’s College London and sits on the advisory board of Paladin Capital, investing in cyber security start-ups. During his long career in British government service he held senior posts in security, intelligence and defence.

He was Director of GCHQ (the UK Signals Intelligence and Cyber Security Agency), Permanent Secretary in the Cabinet Office and UK Security and Intelligence Coordinator, responsible to the Prime Minister for the professional health of the intelligence community, national counter-terrorism strategy and “homeland security”. He also served in the Ministry of Defence as Deputy Under Secretary of State for Policy and was Principal Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Defence during the Falklands conflict. He served for three years with the Diplomatic Service as the UK Defence Counsellor in NATO, Brussels. He served for seven years on the UK Joint Intelligence Committee.

He was educated at the Glasgow Academy and was a foundation scholar in economics at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he is an honorary Fellow. He has been awarded honorary doctorates by Birmingham and Glasgow Universities. He gained a first in maths and theoretical physics with the Open University in 2008.

He has written extensively on security and intelligence matters with Securing the State (Hurst, 2010), Principled Spying: the Ethics of Secret Intelligence (with Professor Mark Phythian, Oxford University Press, 2018), How Spies Think: 10 Lessons in Intelligence (Penguin, 2020) and most recently How to Survive a Crisis: Lessons in Resilience and Avoiding Disaster (Penguin Viking, 2023).

E: [email protected]

Security Circle ⭕️ is an IFPOD production for IFPO the International Foundation of Protection Officers