Brian Tovey

Sir Brian John Maynard Tovey KCMG (born London, 15 April 1926) is a former director of the British signals intelligence agency, GCHQ, a post he held from 1978 to 1983.

Tovey was educated at St Edward's, Oxford, St Edmund Hall, Oxford and SOAS [http://www.learningskillsfoundation.com/biogs/b_tovey.html] , where he studied modern Chinese. After national service in the Royal Navy, Tovey joined GCHQ in 1950. He was thus the first GCHQ director not to have worked at Bletchley Park. He was knighted in 1980.

Tovey's tenure as Director at GCHQ was not an easy one. Industrial action in 1981 led later to the banning of trades unions from GCHQ. The decision was also taken to inaugurate the controversial Zircon project.

Following his retirement from GCHQ, Tovey became a consultant advising firms including Plessey [http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/written_answers/1984/mar/22/sir-brian-tovey] on dealing with Government departments. He served during this time as the chair of the Joint Electronics and Telecommunications Security Export Control Committee (JETSECC) of the Federation of the Electronics Industry [See, for example, "http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm199899/cmselect/cmtrdind/65/8111001.htm"] . Later he was the founding chairman of the UK Mind Sports Olympiad [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/britains-mind-games-end-in-debt-and-tears-684569.html] , and he is currently Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Learning Skills Foundation [http://www.learningskillsfoundation.com/whoswho.html]

Tovey maintains a keen interest in Italian art of the 13th to 17th centuries. He is currently working on a biography of the life and times of Filippo Baldinucci [http://www.learningskillsfoundation.com/biogs/b_tovey.html>] . It is alleged that while he was Director of GCHQ, Tovey shared this interest with the head of the French SDECE, Alexandre de Marenches, and as a result GCHQ gained valuable intelligence on the war in Afghanistan [Unholy Wars: Afghanistan, America and International Terrorism, John K. Cooley, Pluto Press, 1999]

References

###@@@KEY@@@### succession box
before= Sir Arthur Bonsall
title= Director of GCHQ
years= 1978 - 1983
after= Sir Peter Marychurch |