Christopher Curwen
Christopher Curwen | |
---|---|
Allegiance | United Kingdom |
Service | Secret Intelligence Service (SIS/MI6) |
Rank | Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service |
Award(s) | KCMG |
| |
Born | 9 April 1929 |
Died | 18 December 2013 84) | (aged
Nationality | British |
Occupation | Intelligence officer |
Alma mater | Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge |
Sir Christopher Keith Curwen, KCMG (9 April 1929 – 18 December 2013) was a British Intelligence officer specialising in South East Asia who was Head of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) from 1985 to 1989.
Curwen was educated at Sherborne School and Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge after which he was commissioned into the 4th Queen's Own Hussars in 1948, serving in Malaya.[1] He joined SIS in 1952 and was posted to Thailand in 1954 and Vientiane, Laos in 1956. He returned to the service's London headquarters in 1958, had another spell in Bangkok from 1961 and then two years in Kuala Lumpur.
Curwen spent three years as SIS liaison officer in Washington D.C. from 1968 and was then head of station in Geneva.[2] He was deputy to Sir Colin Figures from 1980 and succeeded him as Chief of the Service in 1985.[3] His tenure was notable for the successful exfiltration from Moscow of the KGB officer and British agent Oleg Gordievsky.[4]
References
- ↑ Burke's Peerage and Gentry
- ↑ MI6 - 50 years of Special Operations, by Stephen Dorril, Page 753, Harper Collins, 2001, ISBN 1-85702-701-9
- ↑ Cloaked Dagger
- ↑ Obituary: Sir Christopher Curwen Daily Telegraph, 24 December 2013
Government offices | ||
---|---|---|
Preceded by Sir Colin Figures |
Chief of the SIS 1985 - 1989 |
Succeeded by Sir Colin McColl |