Sir Robert John Sawers was born on 26 July 1955 and is a British intelligence officer, diplomat and civil servant.
22 Facts About John Sawers
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John Sawers was Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, a position he held from November 2009 until November 2014.
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John Sawers was previously the British Permanent Representative to the United Nations from August 2007 to November 2009.
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John Sawers is a descendant of the historic Stratford family through his maternal grandmother.
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John Sawers joined MI6 in 1977 and was given Foreign and Commonwealth Office cover.
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John Sawers began his career as an intelligence officer and worked under diplomatic cover in Yemen and in Syria in 1982 as a political officer, on behalf of MI6.
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John Sawers was based in Pretoria and then Cape Town in South Africa from 1988 to 1991 during the first part of the transition from apartheid.
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John Sawers returned to London and took up the roles of Head of European Union Presidency Planning Unit in 1991 and Principal Private Secretary to Douglas Hurd in 1993.
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John Sawers worked on the Northern Ireland peace process and the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement.
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John Sawers reviewed the Iraq sanctions policy during this period and issued a document that included consideration of regime change.
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John Sawers next served two years in the Middle East as Ambassador to Egypt from 2001 to 2003, and for three months was seconded as the British Government's Special Representative in Baghdad assisting in the establishment of the Coalition Provisional Authority as the transitional government during the Occupation of Iraq.
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John Sawers was particularly involved in policy on Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and the Balkans.
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John Sawers headed the British team in the EU-3 negotiations over Iran's nuclear program in 2006, utilising his scientific background in discussions of nuclear matters.
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John Sawers is a governor of the Ditchley Foundation, which aims to promote international, especially Anglo-American, relations.
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On 10 and 16 December 2009 John Sawers gave evidence to The Iraq Inquiry.
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John Sawers announced his intention to stand down from running the Secret Intelligence Service by November 2014, the fifth anniversary of his appointment.
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John Sawers became a visiting professor in the Department of War Studies at King's College London.
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John Sawers is a member of the Steering Committee of the Bilderberg Conferences and participated in conferences since 2014 On 14 May 2015 he was appointed independent non-executive director of BP Global.
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John Sawers was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in the 1996 New Year Honours.
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John Sawers was made a Knight Commander of the same Order in the 2007 Birthday Honours and promoted to Knight Grand Cross in the 2015 New Year Honours for services to national security.
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John Sawers is a Senior Associate Fellow of the Royal United Services Institute.
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John Sawers enjoys hiking, playing tennis, cycling and watching theatre.