About the Author:
Major General (retd) PETER WILLIAMS CMG OBE
After studying History at Cambridge University, Peter Williams was commissioned into the British Army (Coldstream Guards) in 1972 and served as an infantry officer in Berlin, Ulster, Oman, Hong Kong, Germany and Bosnia, as well as deploying globally on exercises.
In 1973 he was appointed the Regimental Intelligence Officer (RIO) in Berlin and then from 1975-76 served as such in West Belfast. From 1976-78 he was seconded to the Sultan of Oman’s Armed Forces, serving in the post-war stabilisation operations in the Dhofari mountains.
After qualifying as a Russian interpreter (Associate Member and later Member, UK Chartered Institute of Linguists), he spent over four years in the 1980s in West Berlin and East Germany in the British Commanders’-in-Chief Mission to the Soviet Forces in Germany (BRIXMIS), engaged in liaison and intelligence duties [Awarded an MBE].
From 1990-92 he was at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) as the UK Military Assistant/Speechwriter to the then Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), General John Galvin, specialising in Soviet and East European issues.
From 1992-94 he commanded the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards. He led it first in an infantry role on internal security operations in East Tyrone [MID] and then, from November 1993 to May 1994, in the armoured infantry battlegroup role on a multinational peacekeeping mission as part of the UN Protection Force (UNPROFOR) during the war in central Bosnia [OBE].
From May-November 1995, as a colonel, he returned to the Balkans as Deputy Chief of the UN Peace Force Military Observer (UNMO) group, whose 600 men and women operated unarmed throughout the former Yugoslavia (except Slovenia). For some of this period his immediate superior was the then Brigadier General Yudhoyono (President of Indonesia, 2004- ).
From 1996-98 he worked in the UK Defence Intelligence Staff in Whitehall as the Assistant Director Current & Crisis, responsible for overseeing the Yugoslav crisis, for the Indications & Warning section and for briefing and publishing current intelligence products.
From May-November 1998, as a brigadier, he was the Chief Faction Liaison Officer in NATO’s Headquarters Stabilisation Force (SFOR) in Sarajevo, dealing with the Bosnian authorities in implementing the Dayton Agreement, with the national Mine Action Centre and with MPRI (the US contractors for the ‘Train & Equip’ programme) [COMSFOR Commendation].
In 1999 he attended the one-year Australian Defence College (ADC) senior course in Canberra before returning to SHAPE as Chief Strategic Policy Section, where he and his team worked on SHAPE’s input to the NATO Force Structure Review, the European Security & Defence Identity, NATO Enlargement and the Combined Joint Task Force concept.
From February 2001 to April 2002 he served in Brussels as the Deputy UK Military Representative to the European Union, working in the Western European Union and then in the EU Military Committee on the realisation of the European Security & Defence Policy.
From May 2002 to June 2005, as a major general, he was the first Head of the NATO Military Liaison Mission in Moscow, working closely with the Russian authorities to implement the NATO-Russian Council’s decisions, focusing on combating terrorism, non-proliferation and trans-border threats by developing military cooperation and interoperability, and explaining EU & NATO security policies to Russians. [CMG, plus US Legion of Merit, Belgian & Russian medals]
He left the British Army in late 2005 and moved to Canberra, where he spent a year as a consultant in the security and defence sectors and lecturing at Australian & NZ Defence Force academies on NATO, the EU, Russia, operations and military ethics. He returned full-time to England in late November 2006.
