Nigel Inkster

{{person |wikipedia=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Inkster |image=Nigel Inkster.jpg |image_width=350px |image_caption=At a 2009 Green Conference in Beijing where he appeared keen to promote carbon trading to mitigate the alleged effects of carbon emissions of climate change
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Deputy Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service

In office
??? - 2006
Boss	Christopher Curwen, Richard Dearlove, Colin Figures, Dick Franks, Colin McColl, Stewart Menzies, Maurice Oldfield, John Rennie, John Scarlett, Hugh Sinclair, John Sinclair, Mansfield Smith-Cumming, David Spedding, Dick White"???" contains an extrinsic dash or other characters that are invalid for a date interpretation.

Nigel Inkster is Director of Transnational Threats and Political Risk at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), which describes itself as "the leading authority on global security".

His IISS biography states:

Nigel Inkster served in the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) from 1975 to 2006. He was posted in Asia, Latin America and Europe and worked extensively on transnational issues. He spent seven years on the Board of SIS, the last two as Assistant Chief and Director for Operations and Intelligence. He is a Chinese speaker and graduated in Oriental Studies from St John’s College Oxford.

Iraq Intelligence

Inkster was cited as a key source for Ron Suskind's book, The Way of the World:

Suskind said that at the beginning of 2003 MI6 sent one of its top agents, Michael Shipster, to the region. Mr Shipster held secret meetings in Jordan with Tahir Jalil Habbush, the head of Iraqi Intelligence. The meetings were confirmed by Nigel Inkster, former assistant director of MI6.

Mr Inkster also confirmed that Mr Shipster was told by Mr Habbush that there were no illicit weapons in Iraq. Mr Inkster refused to comment last night.

Inkster subsequently told the journalist Richard Norton-Taylor that Suskind's account of his comments was 'inaccurate and misleading'.

"Mr Suskind appears to have conflated separate conversations; one about the problems of reading Saddam Hussein's intentions, an issue which is dealt with in the Butler report, and one about Habbush. I made it clear to Mr Suskind that I was in no position to comment on the substance or significance of any dealings with the latter since I had not been privy to the detail of what had taken place, something Mr Suskind has chosen not to mention. And, in any event, I had made it clear to Mr Suskind, when first he approached me, that I would not divulge classified information to which I had had access during my time in government.

Mr Suskind's characterisation of our meeting is more the stuff of creative fiction than serious reportage, and seeks to make more of it than the circumstances or the content warranted."

Seeks top job

Inkster applied to succeed Richard Dearlove as Chief of MI6. Unlike Mark Allen, who also sought the top job, he nevertheless decided to stay on when John Scarlett was appointed, to "help the agency settle down."

Criticises "War on Terror"

In April 2010, Inkster co-authored a Guardian article with Alexander Nicoll which criticised the "War on Terror" as an "unwinnable 'war' against an undefined enemy".

Criticises "War on Drugs"

In April 2012, Inkster was quoted by the Telegraph as saying that "Our investigation has shown us that the so-called war on drugs fundamentally undermines international security."

Publications

• Defending the Realm, Survival: Global Politics and Strategy, vol. 52, no. 2, April–May 2010, pp. 199–208.
• With Alexander Nicoll, Terrorism: keep calm and carry on, Guardian, 26 April 2010.
• Why we must look at legalising drugs - The Sun 17 April 2012

Affiliations

• Secret Intelligence Service
• International Institute for Strategic Studies - Director of Transnational Threats and Political Risk.

 

Event Participated in

Event	Start	End	Location(s)	Description
WEF/Annual Meeting/2014	22 January 2014	25 January 2014	Switzerland World Economic Forum	2604 guests in Davos considered "Reshaping The World"

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