John Moffat was appointed Minister Counsellor for Defence Policy and Nuclear in the British Embassy in Washington in August 2022, bringing over fifteen years of experience of defence and national security. John returns to Defence after a stint working in the Cabinet Office National Security Secretariat, working on nuclear issues to support the National Security Adviser.

John’s most recent role in Defence was over three years as the Chief of the Staff to the MOD Permanent Secretary, working for David Williams, and prior to that Sir Stephen Lovegrove. In this role he was heavily involved in issues such as the MOD’s response to the pandemic, the MOD’s participation in the 2020-2021 Spending Review settlement and Integrated Review, and nuclear policy.

After starting his MOD career in 2005 as an intelligence analyst, John moved into a number of regional policy roles, spanning the Gulf, Indo-Asia Pacific and most recently Africa, where he was the Assistant Head for Africa operational policy from 2015-2017. Alongside this he has worked in several corporate and project management roles, including Armed Forces personnel policy, defence exports, and large-scale Defence change programmes. From 2007-2012 John spent two years across different stints in Afghanistan working as an analyst, and later as a Political Officer supporting the Afghan government in Helmand province.

John has an MSc in International Relations from the London School of Economics and completed the NATO Defence College Senior Course in 2013. He has worked closely with the US and other allies throughout his career and is very much excited now to be taking up a full time posting in Washington DC.