Crossbench Peer | IISS Chair | Strategic Adviser | Former Cabinet Secretary and National Security Adviser |
London
Joined November 2010
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Mark Sedwill retweeted
We cannot let these attacks wipe out Ukraine's educational resources. That is why The Sunday Times is incredibly proud to partner with @Book_Aid for the our Get Ukraine Reading appeal.
They are working on the ground to get brand-new books back into the hands of students and restock the libraries whose shelves were destroyed.
Every £2 donated sends another brand-new book to a Ukrainian child or library.
Please consider supporting the appeal and sharing this thread to help us rebuild what has been lost:
bookaid.org/support-us/the-s…
Mark Sedwill retweeted
As we prepare for AFF26 in Oslo next month, @StephenWatson39 discusses the format and likely impact of the Forum with AFF Chair, @marksedwill
Mark Sedwill retweeted
Could Taiwan be a flash point for future tension between the US and China?
Xi Jinping has urged President Trump to take the "correct position" on the self-governing island which Beijing claims as its own.
But the US is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself.
Mark Sedwill, former National Security Adviser, tells #R4Today that China is likely to continue to exert pressure.
Mark Sedwill retweeted
We’re delighted to welcome the @FinancialTimes as our Media Partner for AFF26.
The FT will help shape and amplify the Forum’s content programme, with a special edition of the Political Fix podcast, hosted by @LOS_Fisher, also to be recorded on board HMS Prince of Wales.
Whether Europe can turn the money it has now promised into forces was the question that hung over Prague last week at the @IISS_org Defence Summit.
The money argument is settled. European defence spending has nearly doubled in recent years, and the procurement mix has improved - up from a quarter to 36% of budgets. Several nations now outpace Britain.
The real problem is fragmentation. Europe deploys roughly 5x as many military systems as the United States. Without proper integration - in command, industry and doctrine - we get less bang for every taxpayer buck or euro or pound.
There's also a political task. The relationship between citizen and state is shifting back toward shared resilience and defence responsibility. Most Europeans haven't caught up, because most politicians haven't made the case. In a democracy, you win that argument only by making it.
The IISS Strategic Dossier released for the summit measures the gap between current capability and what's required. It's substantial 👇
iiss.org/publications/strate…
Mark Sedwill retweeted
As we count down to AFF26 in Oslo, Lord @marksedwill reflects on our ties with Norway and the importance of taking AFF to the High-North.
Mark Sedwill retweeted
A pleasure for me to introduce Gen David Petraeus to deliver the @LordSpeaker's lecture.
At this critical time in our history, the future isn't something that simply happens to us; it's shaped by choices, alliances, leadership. David understands that very well.
My thoughts:
Mark Sedwill retweeted
Former @CIA director and 4-star US Army General David Petraeus delivered a compelling @LordSpeaker's lecture @UKHouseofLords on defence & national security.
His military leadership & experience at the very highest levels of 🇺🇸 intelligence offer important lessons for us all.
Mark Sedwill retweeted
Britain’s next leader is right that much of Labour’s agenda can be driven “more agile governance closer to communities”, writes Mark Sedwill, a former cabinet secretary. “But conventional devolution of powers and budgets will not cut it” econ.st/4xX02gp
Illustration: Dan Williams
I've written in @TheEconomist on why Andy Burnham's first 24 hours will define his premiership.
No10 North may as well be called Manc-a-Lago unless he's serious about real decentralisation 👇
economist.com/by-invitation/…
Mark Sedwill retweeted
I see the current defence investment plans "falling well short of what is required", former defence secretary John Healey tells the Commons
bbc.in/4vMiAxN
John Healey’s resignation spotlights the gap between Britain’s defence ambitions and the budget. We can’t do everything everywhere. General Sir Nick Carter and I explain why Dan Jarvis must make hard choices: redesign the force to mobilise via reserves, focus on the northern flank through JEF leadership and protect our global interests.
telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/06…
#UKDefence #NATO
Mark Sedwill retweeted
He’s right
This week the most advanced AI model on the planet got switched off by a foreign government. British researchers were studying it. British companies were testing it. British hospitals were piloting it. Not any more.
This isn't an AI story. It's the story of every industry we used to lead.
Britain has some of the best AI talent in the world. DeepMind was built here. Our AI Safety Institute writes the rules other countries follow. We have the researchers, the universities, the standards.
What we don't have is the power stations to run the data centres, the planning system to build them, or the industrial base to make the chips. So the work happens here and the value lands somewhere else. We invent. Others build. Others decide. Then we read about it on Saturday morning.
Same story as the kit our soldiers don't have. Same story as the factories we used to.
I spent nine months in government making this argument inside the room. I'll make it louder from outside.
Mark Sedwill retweeted
I think we are all pointing in the same direction . Integrated force not balanced forces. Redundancy in order to confront what is coming up (quantum , a resort to exotics like bio and chemical and genetic) it would be good to get round a table and discuss everything , such as carrier strike,CASD, reserve forces . Get it across something CAN be done as well as needs to be done.
The ‘Balanced Force’ was taken apart here, in 2022 (👇). Healey bought into the idea of a joint MSHQ to direct the creation of an ‘Integrated Force’. It made Labour’s manifesto. Landslide=mandate. Yet the institutional inertia of ‘UK Defence’ resists it.
policyexchange.org.uk/wp-con…
Thanks Robert. Jarvis has two weeks until the NATO summit but could set new direction at DefMin meeting this week. Let’s hope he grasps it.
Britain can't sustain a “balanced force” We need integrated forces to protect the North Atlantic and High North against Russian aggression and hold their Arctic bases at risk. Those forces can also deploy to wherever the next Hormuz crisis erupts. It's the only credible strategy in a world where American security guarantees are no longer unconditional.
New DefSec Dan Jarvis might have to live with the budget total Healey and Carns couldn’t accept. But he must rewrite the Defence Investment Plan to transform defence and make the tough choices we need. / 1
NATO as a protected enterprise is finished. US won’t keep the sea lanes open alone. Britain’s answer is expeditionary forces — anchoring NATO’s northern flank and reaching the Gulf and Indo-Pacific. My latest @spectator:
spectator.co.uk/article/mini…
Mark Sedwill retweeted
Congratulations to Prime Minister @narendramodi on becoming India’s longest-serving elected Prime Minister.
A remarkable milestone in the world’s largest democracy and good for the UK-India partnership which will continue to go from strength to strength.