Richard Barrett

Who is Richard Barrett?

Richard Martin Donne Barrett CMG OBE is a former British diplomat and intelligence officer now involved in countering violent extremism. Barrett is a recognized global expert on terrorism who frequently appears as a panelist in related conferences and whose commentary is regularly featured in the press.

Barrett was born in Taplow and was educated at Ampleforth College in Yorkshire. In 1973, he was awarded a Master of Arts in Modern History and Italian Literature from University College, Oxford.

From March 2004 to January 2013 Barrett led the Monitoring Team that supports the United Nations Security Council Committee pursuant to resolution 1988 and the Committee pursuant to resolution 1989 concerning Al-Qaida and associated individuals and entities. Mr. Barrett was also a founding member of the United Nations Counter Terrorism Implementation Task Force, which was established in 2005 to promote the UN Global Counter Terrorism Strategy adopted by the General Assembly in 2006. He chaired the CTITF Working Group on Terrorist use of the Internet and the CTITF Working Group on Dialogue Understanding and Countering the Appeal of Terrorism.

Barrett has been designated as one of the Global Experts of the Alliance of Civilizations, a group of recognized expert commentators available to the media to provide objective analysis on a range of pressing international issues. He has spoken frequently on television and radio, and his interviews have been featured on Amanpour and Charlie Rose. He is the author of several articles and commentaries including op-eds for The Guardian, The New York Times, The Financial Times and The International Herald Tribune. Before being appointed to lead the Monitoring Team, Barrett spent his career in government service to the United Kingdom. He has held positions in the British Security Service and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Barrett also served as Director of Global Counter Terrorism Operations for the British Secret Intelligence Service both before and after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.