Gordon Kerr
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Brigadier Gordon Kerr, born in Aberdeen c.1948, is a senior army officer and former diplomatic attaché who was the head of the controversial Force Research Unit in Northern Ireland.
Kerr's military career began when he joined the Gordon Highlanders shortly after leaving university in 1970. He served in Cyprus before his first posting to Northern Ireland in 1972, where he worked as an undercover intelligence officer. Between 1972 and 1987 he worked in a variety of posts related to army intelligence in Northern Ireland, Berlin, and at army training centres in Britain.
In 1987, Kerr, now a Lieutenant-Colonel, became head of the Force Research Unit, a controversial army unit which ran undercover agents in paramilitary organisations. The FRU is alleged to have colluded with Loyalist paramilitaries in the assassination of a number of civilians, most notoriously the killing of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane in 1989. He held this post until 1991 when, due to the threat of IRA assassination, he was taken out of Northern Ireland and reassigned. The unit was subsequently renamed to the Force Reconnaissance Unit.
After leaving the FRU, he was promoted to Brigadier and became the military attaché for the British government in Beijing. While he was there, his name was published by the Sunday Herald as a consequence of the investigation into the FRU by the Stevens Inquiry.
In February 2003, Kerr was recalled from Beijing for two weeks leave, before being sent to Iraq to lead the Special Reconnaissance Regiment, a post which he currently holds.
