David Omand

Sir David Bruce Omand GCB (born 15 April 1947) is a former senior British civil servant who served as the Director of the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) from 1996 to 1997.

He was born on 15 April 1947. His father, Bruce, was a Justice of the Peace. Omand was educated at Glasgow Academy and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, receiving an economics degree.

He began his career with the Government Communications Headquarters, more commonly known as GCHQ. After working for the Ministry of Defence for a number of years, Omand was appointed Director of GCHQ from 1996 to 1997. His next post was Permanent Secretary at the Home Office.

Omand was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 2000 New Year Honours. In 2002 he became the first Permanent Secretary and Security and Intelligence Co-ordinator in the Cabinet Office. Omand was among those who decided that David Kelly should be pursued for talking to the media about the Government's dossier on Iraq's alleged WMD. Omand and Sir Kevin Tebbit, then permanent secretary at the Ministry of Defence, recommended to Jack Straw and Tony Blair that John Scarlett head MI6.