Ambassador to Afghanistan
What was the position of Mark Sedwill between Jan 2009 and Feb 2009?
Mark Sedwill Mark Philip Sedwill , Baron Sedwill ( born 21 October 1964 ) is a British diplomat and senior civil servant who served as Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service to Prime Ministers Theresa May and Boris Johnson from 2018 to 2020 . He also served as the United Kingdom National Security Adviser from 2017 to 2020 . He was previously the United Kingdoms Ambassador to Afghanistan from 2009 to 2010 and the NATO Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan in 2010 . He was the Permanent Secretary at the Home Office from February 2013 to April 2017 . Early life and education . Sedwill was born in Ealing . He attended Bourne Grammar School in Bourne , Lincolnshire , becoming the head boy . He went to the University of St Andrews , where he gained a Bachelor of Science ( BSc ) , and later gained a Master of Philosophy ( MPhil ) in economics from St Edmund Hall , Oxford . Career . Early diplomatic career . Sedwill joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office ( FCO ) in 1989 and he served in the Security Coordination Department and the Gulf War Emergency Unit until 1991 . He was then posted in Cairo , Egypt , from 1991 to 1994 as a Second Secretary , then First Secretary in Iraq from 1996 to 1997 whilst serving as a United Nations weapons inspector , then in Nicosia , Cyprus , as First Secretary for Political-Military Affairs and Counterterrorism from 1997 to 1999 . He was the Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs ( Robin Cook and later Jack Straw ) from 2000 to 2002 in the run-up to and preparations for the 2003 Iraq invasion . He then served as the Deputy High Commissioner to Pakistan , based in Islamabad from 2003 to 2005 , then the Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa Department of the Foreign Office . From 2006 to 2008 , he served as International Director of the UK Border Agency , part of the Home Office . Afghanistan ambassador and NATO roles . In April 2009 , Sedwill became the Ambassador to Afghanistan , succeeding Sherard Cowper-Coles . In January 2010 , he was additionally appointed as NATOs Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan , to be the civilian counterpart to the ISAF Commander , U.S . General Stanley A . McChrystal and then U.S . General David Petraeus . He was succeeded as ambassador temporarily by his predecessor , Cowper-Coles , and then by William Patey , formerly British Ambassador to Saudi Arabia . In May 2011 , Sedwill took over as the FCOs Director-General for Afghanistan and Pakistan ( and thus as the UKs Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan ) from Dame Karen Pierce . He additionally became the FCOs Director-General , Political , in autumn 2012 , replacing Geoffrey Adams . Sedwill said of his life before government Ive had a gun in my face from Saddam Husseins bodyguards . A bomb under my seat at a polo match in the foothills of the Himalayas ; Ive been hosted by a man plotting to have me assassinated ; Ive been shot at , mortared and even had someone come after me with a suicide vest . Home Office and National Security Adviser . In February 2013 , Sedwill became the Permanent Secretary at the Home Office , filling the vacancy left by Helen Ghosh . Sedwill replaced Mark Lyall Grant as National Security Adviser in the Cabinet Office in April 2017 . During his time as Permanent Secretary , one of the organisations the Home Office is responsible for , MI5 , failed to adequately safeguard data . In 2019 Lord Justice Sir Adrian Fulford stated MI5 had a historical lack of compliance with sections of the Investigatory Powers Act in 2016 . Cabinet Secretary . Sedwill became acting Cabinet Secretary in June 2018 , while Jeremy Heywood took a leave of absence on medical grounds , and was appointed to replace Heywood on his retirement on 24 October 2018 . He is the second Cabinet Secretary never to have worked at HM Treasury , and the first whose career has been dominated by diplomatic and security work . He was described as the Prime Ministers first and only choice to replace Heywood , with no recruitment process taking place and some suggesting the urgency of arrangements for the UKs departure from the European Union as a reason for the quick appointment . Prime Minister Theresa May was criticised for allowing Sedwill to remain as National Security Adviser alongside his role as Cabinet Secretary , with speculation that the role was being kept for Europe adviser Oliver Robbins . In a February 2019 interview Sedwill said he would retain his role as National Security Adviser to the Prime Minister since becoming Cabinet Secretary is part of moves to make a success of Brexit . In an interview with Civil Service Quarterly , Sedwill said retaining the post would also ensure a genuine sense of teamwork across and beyond government . In April 2019 it was reported that Sedwill had written to ministers on the National Security Council and their special advisers after The Daily Telegraph reported details of a meeting about Chinese telecoms company Huawei . Following the meeting of the council , the Telegraph reported that it had agreed to allow Huawei limited access to help build Britains new 5G network , amid warnings about possible risks to national security . Several cabinet ministers have denied they were involved . In July 2019 , The Times reported that two unnamed senior civil servants had said the 70-year-old Jeremy Corbyn might have to stand down due to health issues . The article drew an angry response from Labour , which denounced the comments as a scurrilous attempt to undermine the partys efforts to gain power . Downing Street said that Sedwill would write to Corbyn after the party demanded an inquiry into alleged comments . It is unclear whether he will order an investigation . Corbyn has said the civil service has a duty to be non-political . In November 2019 , Sedwill blocked the publication of a document written by civil servants to cost the Labour Partys fiscal plans before a general election . Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell had complained to Treasury Permanent Secretary Tom Scholar in a meeting arguing it would interfere in the upcoming general election . In June 2020 , it was announced that Sedwill would be stepping down from his civil service appointments in September 2020 . The Telegraph said that Downing Street regarded Sedwill as too much of a Europhile and establishment figure to be in post through planned Whitehall reforms . Sedwill stepped down as national security adviser in September 2020 . He was to be replaced by David Frost , who was Johnsons special adviser and chief negotiator in talks on the post-Brexit trade and security relationship with the EU . This would be a political appointment , while all previous national security advisers had been civil servants . However , an FOI answer stated that Frost continued as Chief Negotiator to the EU as of October 2020 , and David Quarrey took over the role of acting NSA . Sedwill was replaced as Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service by Simon Case on 9 September 2020 . Later career . In December 2020 it was reported that Sedwill was joining the investment bank Rothschild & Co in January 2021 as a senior adviser . Personal life . Sedwill married in 1999 and has one daughter . He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society , Fellow of the Institute of Directors and President of the Special Forces Club . Honours . He was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in 2008 Birthday Honours , and a Knight Commander in the 2018 New Year Honours . On 11 September 2020 he was created Baron Sedwill of Sherborne in the County of Dorset . External links . - Panthers Claw in August 2009 - Strategy in March 2009 - Coffee House interview : Mark Sedwill | The Spectator - The hill of gold Video clips . - General David Petraeus and Ambassador Mark Sedwill on Afghanistan - ISAF Media March 2010 - Becoming NATO representative in February 2010 ( FCO ) - ISAF Media January 2010 - Frontline Club January 2010 - British Satellite News