Anne Keast-Butler has been announced as the new director of GCHQ, becoming the first woman to lead the UK’s intelligence, cyber and security agency.
Currently serving as the deputy director of MI5, she succeeds Sir Jeremy Fleming in a scheduled change at a time when the intelligence services are heavily focused on the security threat from Russia and China.
At MI5, sometimes described as the UK’s “domestic” intelligence service, she has been the director general responsible for operational, investigative and protective security work, which included preparation for and the response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Her appointment on Tuesday by the foreign secretary, James Cleverly, makes her the first female intelligence agency head since Stella Rimington and Eliza Manningham-Buller.
“Anne Keast-Butler has an impressive track record working at the heart of the UK’s national security network; helping to counter threats posed by terrorists, cybercriminals and malign foreign powers,” said Cleverly. “She is the ideal candidate to lead GCHQ, and Anne will use her vast experience to help keep the British public safe.”
GCHQ focuses on communications – how to access, analyse and disrupt the communications of the UK’s adversaries – and on the country’s cybersecurity, which includes criminals.
Keast-Butler’s appointment was described as “a momentous moment for women’s representation” by Anna Brailsford, CEO of Code First Girls, a training organisation that has partnered with GCHQ to try to boost the number of female coders in the agency’s ranks.
“Women who may never have considered a career in codebreaking, intelligence and tech will now see a director that looks like them and think again,” she said.
Keast-Butler has more than 30 years’ experience in what the government describes as “the national security field” and held a number of key operational roles in MI5.
Before her latest stint at MI5, she spent two years on secondment to GCHQ as head of counter-terrorism and serious organised crime, and also spent part of the last decade on secondment in Whitehall. During that time she helped launch the national cyber security programme, which covers the protection of the UK’s critical services from cyber-attacks and manages major incidents.
In a statement issued by the Foreign Office, she said GCHQ’s mission to keep the UK safe was as inspiring today as it was when it was founded more than 100 years ago.
“In just the last year GCHQ has contributed vital intelligence to shape the west’s response to the illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine; helped disrupt terrorist plots; and worked tirelessly to tackle the ongoing threat of ransomware, the impact of which costs the UK dearly,” she said.
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“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. I am passionate about continuing to ensure that GCHQ is an organisation where everyone can perform to their very best.”
A brief personal biography provided by the Foreign Office said Keast-Butler grew up in Cambridge and holds a degree in mathematics from Merton College, Oxford. She is married with three children and was said to enjoy spending time with family and friends and walking her dogs.
The recruitment process to find GCHQ’s 17th director general began in January, when it was announced that Fleming was stepping down after nearly six years in the role.
Despite the immediate threat posed by Russia, Fleming has warned that China was the “real long-term threat” to UK national security, saying Beijing was “deploying its ideologies in ways that we think are against our national interests”.
Fleming 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.”
