Anne Keast-Butler is the Director of GCHQ, the UK's Intelligence, Cyber and Security Agency. Appointed in May 2023,[1][2][3] she is the seventeenth person to hold the role and succeeded Sir Jeremy Fleming.[1]

Career

Keast-Butler joined GCHQ from MI5, where she was Deputy Director General, responsible for MI5's operational, investigative and protective security work. This has included MI5's – and the allies' – preparation for and response to Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.[2]

In her previous Director General role, Keast-Butler was Director General Strategy, leading the enabling functions that support MI5’s operational activities.[1]

Prior to this, Keast-Butler spent two years on secondment to GCHQ as Head of Counter Terrorism and Serious Organised Crime and has also spent part of the last decade on secondment in Whitehall.[2] Whilst there, she helped to launch the National Cyber Security Programme.[3]

Personal life

Keast-Butler grew up in Cambridge. Her father was a consultant ophthalmologist with academic roles at the University of Cambridge.[4] She earned a degree in mathematics from Merton College, Oxford.[2]

She is married, with three children.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "New Director GCHQ announced". www.gchq.gov.uk. Retrieved 2023-04-11.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Quinn, Ben (11 April 2023). "Anne Keast-Butler to become first female director of GCHQ". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
  3. 1 2 "Anne Keast-Butler to be first female director at GCHQ". BBC News. 11 April 2023. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
  4. ↑ Downing, John (2023-04-13). "Cambridge woman Anne Keast-Butler to be first female director at GCHQ". Cambridge Independent. Retrieved 2023-11-03.
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