Defence Secretary John Healey confirmed on 5 February 2026 that His Majesty the King has approved the appointment of Major General Matthew Jones OBE as Chief of Defence Intelligence, on promotion to Lieutenant General. He will succeed Adrian Bird in summer 2026, creating a defined handover period during an active reform programme across the defence intelligence system.
As Chief of Defence Intelligence, Jones will lead the Military Intelligence Services, established by the Ministry of Defence in December 2025 under the Strategic Defence Review. MIS brings together personnel and units from the Royal Navy, British Army, Royal Air Force, the Civil Service, Permanent Joint Headquarters and UK Space Command into a single enterprise designed to speed collection, assessment and dissemination for Defence, wider government and allies.
The reform sits within Cyber and Specialist Operations Command, led by General Sir Jim Hockenhull, with the CDI acting as professional head across Defence intelligence. Alongside MIS, the Ministry of Defence launched the Defence Counter-Intelligence Unit in 2025 to unify counter‑intelligence activity. MOD figures indicate hostile intelligence activity against Defence has risen by more than 50 per cent over the past year, reinforcing the case for faster warning and stronger protective measures.
Jones brings more than three decades of service, with operational experience in Afghanistan, Iraq and the wider Middle East. He currently serves as Director Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, responsible for intelligence collection, capability development, training and counter‑intelligence-experience that aligns closely with MIS’s integrated remit and the maturing DCIU.
In statements released by the Ministry of Defence, the Defence Secretary highlighted Jones’s leadership credentials to raise warfighting readiness through the new arrangements. Outgoing CDI Adrian Bird emphasised continuity of the transformation programme through the summer handover, while General Sir Jim Hockenhull underscored the requirement for strategic insight at a time of elevated operational tempo.
For frontline commands and policy teams, MIS is intended to shorten decision cycles by aligning tasking, assessment and targeting under one authority. The model is built to fuse data from land, sea, air, space and cyber in near real time, improving the quality and speed of advice to ministers and commanders and strengthening interoperability with NATO and Five Eyes partners.
There are practical implications for Defence industry and the civil service. An integrated enterprise typically requires common data standards, assured networks and refreshed security accreditation to enable multi‑domain information sharing. The Ministry of Defence has also highlighted the Defence Intelligence Academy as a key enabler of skills development across geospatial, cyber and space analysis to support implementation.
With the appointment confirmed and a summer 2026 start, Defence Intelligence enters a managed transition period. Delivery work on MIS and the DCIU continues through 2026, with governance anchored in Cyber and Specialist Operations Command and ministerial oversight from the Ministry of Defence. Further implementation updates will be issued by the MOD as the reforms progress to full operating capability.