Britain’s cyber spy agency has appointed a female director for the first time in its more than 100-year history.
Anne Keast-Butler has been appointed to succeed Sir Jeremy Fleming as head of Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), foreign secretary James Cleverly has announced.
Ms Keast-Butler, currently MI5’s deputy director general, will take up the role in May when Sir Jeremy leaves after six years. She said she is “delighted” to be appointed and “can’t wait to get started”, adding that GCHQ’s mission is “as inspiring today as it was when it was founded”.
Ms Keast-Butler said: “I was privileged to work in GCHQ a few years ago, so I know I am again joining a world-class team of people from diverse backgrounds with a broad range of skills, who share a singular focus on making our country safer, more secure, and more prosperous.”
The spy chief said she is “passionate about continuing to ensure that GCHQ is an organisation where everyone can perform to their very best”.
She added: “I am so grateful for the vision and dedication Sir Jeremy Fleming has shown during his tenure, and the ways in which GCHQ has transformed under his leadership.”
Ms Keast-Butler, who has spent 30 years working in national security, will become the agency’s 17th leader since its inception.
Before holding senior security service roles at MI5, she spent two years on secondment to GCHQ as head of counterterrorism and serious organised crime, and has also worked in Whitehall over the last decade, during which time she helped launch the National Cyber Security Programme.
Sir Jeremy said: “Anne’s appointment is fantastic news for the organisation. I have worked with Anne for decades and think she is a brilliant choice with deep experience of intelligence and security in today’s technology-driven world.”
Earlier this year Sir Jeremy said China was the “real long-term threat” to UK national security, despite Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He said Beijing was “deploying its ideologies in ways that we think are against our national interests”.
Mr Cleverly said Ms Keast-Butler “has an impressive track record at the heart of the UK’s national security network, helping to counter threats posed by terrorists, cyber-criminals and malign foreign powers”.
The foreign secretary added: “She is the ideal candidate to lead GCHQ, and Anne will use her vast experience to help keep the British public safe.”
The government’s national security adviser Sir Tim Barrow said Ms Keast-Butler was an “exceptional candidate in a talented field”.
He also thanked Sir Jeremy for his service, adding: “Jeremy’s insights and analysis have been hugely valuable through one of the most demanding periods of our recent history.”
