John Adye

Sir John Anthony Adye KCMG (born 24 Oct 1939) is a former director of the British signals intelligence agency, GCHQ, a post he held from 1989 to 1996.

Adye was educated at Leighton Park School and Lincoln College, Oxford [Burke's Peerage] ; he joined GCHQ in the mid-1960s. He was knighted in 1993. After his retirement from GCHQ he served from 1996 to 2002 as the chair of the Country Houses Association; subsequently in 2005 he was appointed to the board of the US National Biometric Security Project [http://www.nationalbiometric.org/about_NBSP_board_2adye.php] .

Adye was a witness in February 2008 at the inquest into the death of Diana Princess of Wales. In an unprecedented move (normal policy is neither to confirm nor deny operational activities), he strenuously denied that GCHQ had any involvement in either the Camillagate or Squidgygate tapes.

References

###@@@KEY@@@### succession box
before= Sir Peter Marychurch
title= Director of GCHQ
years= 1989 - 1996
after= Sir David Omand |