Chris Keay has been First Secretary Defence in the embassy’s Foreign and Security Policy Group since 2009. Chris is a 1999 graduate from St Andrews University, where he studied International…
Chris Keay has been First Secretary Defence in the embassy’s Foreign and Security Policy Group since 2009. Chris is a 1999 graduate from St Andrews University, where he studied International Relations and Modern History. He then worked as an English teacher in the Japanese public school system before joining the Ministry of Defence. Chris’ first job in MOD was overseeing bilateral defence relations with Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia as they moved toward NATO membership. He then worked in the Resources and Plans section on the 2002 government spending review before beginning a series of policy jobs on Operation TELIC – the UK operation in Iraq. These included spells in the policy branch in London (2003-2004), the British military HQ in Basra (2005) and at our operational HQ in Northwood (2006). On return from Iraq, Chris set up the MOD’s Support to Operations programme to improve the way MOD identifies, prepares and supports civil servants who deploy on operations with the military. From 2007 to 2009 he was responsible for policy on the domestic deployment of the Armed Forces, dealing with national resilience issues. In his current role Chris works closely with the Office of the Secretary of Defense and other defence policy stakeholders to improve the relationship between our two defence communities.
