Lieutenant General Tom Copinger-Symes CBE
Biography
Tom spent his early career with The Rifles on operations in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan, and in operational and strategy posts at the Permanent Joint Headquarters and the Ministry of Defence. For the past 10 years he has focused on how the Army and Defence can make better use of its data and information, whether supporting traditional warfighting or employed as a weapon in its own right. This has included command at brigade (1 ISR Brigade) and divisional levels (Force Troops Command / 6th (UK) Division). In his last post, as Director of Military Digitisation, he was responsible for the Digital Strategy for Defence and creation of a Digital Backbone, the Digital Foundry and the Defence AI Centre, to enable Defence’s transformation to a data-centric enterprise.
In May 2022 Tom was promoted to Lieutenant General, on appointment as the Deputy Commander of UK Strategic Command. In August 2023 he assumed the additional responsibilities of Director General Joint Force Development.
Tom is also Colonel Commandant of The Rifles; Honorary Colonel of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry; is Chair of Army Cresta Tobogganing; and Vice President of Army Cricket and Football. He is also active in growing esports and gaming across Defence, not least for their potential to increase digital and cyber skills, as well as to engage audiences across the UK and more broadly.
Deputy Commander of Strategic Command
The Deputy Commander’s responsibilities include:
- Leading the Integration Design Authority (IDA) to drive integration across UK Defence (including industry and academia), with other parts of UK Government, with NATO Allies, and partners across the globe.
- Building the Integrated Global Defence Network and a more coherent Cyber and Electromagnetic Domain.
- Developing and delivering the Strategic Command Strategy and Command Plan and supporting portfolio, including Programme SOLARIUM, the Command’s transformation programme.
- Championing the Command’s Health, Safety and Environment Protection activity.
- Strategic Command’s Principal Personnel Officer, representing the Command on all aspects of the Defence People Programme.