Chief of Defence Force (Singapore)

The Chief of Defence Force of Singapore is the head of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), who holds the rank of a three-star general or admiral. The position was created in 1974 as the Chief of General Staff with the appointment of Winston Choo, and changed to its current name in May 1990. Prior to the appointment of Choo as Chief of General Staff, the Ministry of Defence (and before it, the Ministry of Interior and Defence) was in charge of the SAF. Before the position was created, the head of Singapore's army—which at that time made up the military—held the position of Director, General Staff.

The President of Singapore has the power to appoint each new CDF (as well as new heads of each of the three services in the SAF) on the advice of the Prime Minister of Singapore, who in turn must consult with the Armed Forces Council, on which the CDF sits. The CDF also maintains a role as an aide-de-camp to the President.

The CDF is the operational head of the SAF, and holds a seat on the Armed Forces Council which oversees all matters pertaining to the SAF. In addition, if any of the three service chiefs—the Chief of Army, Chief of Navy or Chief of Air Force—is unable to carry out his duties, the CDF is tasked to perform those duties in addition to his own. If the CDF is unable to perform his own duties, the Minister of Defence is allowed to select one of the three service chiefs to perform the CDF's duties.

The office of CDF also carries with it a position as one of three full-time aides-de-camp to the President. According to the Singapore Presidential Office website, the position entails handling the President's security and his social needs, in addition to other general duties.

A number of powers relating to summary trials for military offences is vested in the CDF. Paragraph 2, Section 62 of the Singapore Armed Forces Act states that any offence in which the accused holds the rank of Colonel or Military Expert 7 is to be referred to the CDF, who can then dismiss the charge, hold a summary trial, or pass the case on to the director of legal services of the SAF, who can in turn instruct the CDF to try the accused.