§ Harry CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many defence attaché staff there are at each diplomatic post abroad; what the roles of those based in the United States are; and what proportion of their working time was spent on each major activity in the last year for which figures are available. [131774]
§ Mr. IngramA total of 128 United Kingdom Defence attachés/advisors are currently deployed in 82 locations as follows:
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Country City Number of attachés at post Albania Tirana 1 Army Angola Luanda 1 Army Argentina Buenos Aires 2 (1 Army, 1 RAF) Australia Canberra 2 (1 RN, 1 RAF) Austria Vienna 1 Army Bahrain Manama 1 RN Barbados Bridgetown 1 RN Belgium Brussels 1 RAF Brazil Brasilia 2 (1 RN, 1 RAF) Brunei Bandar Seri Begawan 1 RN Bulgaria Sofia 2 (1 RN, 1 Army) Canada Ottawa 2 (1 RAF. 1 Army) Chile Santiago 1 Army China Beijing 2(1 Army, 1 RAF) Colombia Bogota 1 Army Congo DRC Kinshasa 1 Army Croatia Zagreb 1 Army Cyprus Nicosia 1 Army, Czech Republic Prague 2 (1 Army, 1 RAF) Denmark Copenhagen 1 RN Egypt Cairo 2 (1 RN. 1 Army) Ethiopia Addis Ababa 1 Army Finland Helsinki 1 Army France Paris 3 (1 RN, 1 Army, 1 RAF) Georgia Tbilisi 1 RN Germany Berlin 4 (1 RN, 2 Army, 1 RAF) Ghana Accra 1 Army Greece Athens 2 (1 RN, 1 Army) Guatemala Guatemala City 1 Army Hungary Budapest 2 (1 Army 1 RAF) India New Delhi 2 (1 Army, 1 RAF) Indonesia Jakarta 1 Army Ireland Dublin 1 Army Israel Tel Aviv 2 (1 Army, 1 RAF) Italy Rome 3 (1 RN, 1 Army, 1 RAF) Jamaica Kingston 1 Army Japan Tokyo 1 RN Jordan Amman 2 (1 Army, 1 RAF) Kazakhstan Almaty 1 Army Kenya Nairobi 1 Army Korea Seoul 2 (1 Army, 1 RAF) Kuwait Kuwait City 1 Army Latvia Riga 1 Army Lebanon Beirut 1 Army Lithuania Vilnius 1 Army Macedonia Skopje 1 Army Malaysia Kuala Lumpur 2 (1 RN, 1 Army) Morocco Rabat 1 Army Nepal Kathrnandu 1 Army Netherlands The Hague 1 RN New Zealand Wellington 1 Army Nigeria Abuja 1 Army Norway Oslo 1 RN Oman Muscat 2 (1 RN, 1 Army) Pakistan Islamabad 2 (1 RN, 1 Army) Philippines Manila 1 Army Poland Warsaw 2 (1 Army, 1 RAF) Portugal Lisbon 1 RN Qatar Doha 1 RAF Romania Bucharest 2 (1 Army, 1 RAF) Russia Moscow 6 (2 RN, 2 Army, 2 RAF) Saudi Arabia Riyadh 3 (1 RN, 1 Army, 1 RAF)
Country City Number of attachés at post Serbia and Montenegro Belgrade 1 Army Sierra Leone Freetown 1 Army Singapore Singapore 2 (1 RN, 1 RAF) Slovak Republic Bratislava 2 (1 Army, 1 RAF) Slovenia Ljubljana 1 Army South Africa Pretoria 2 (1 Army, 1 RAF) Spain Madrid 2(1 RN, 1 RAF) Sri Lanka Colombo 1 Army Sweden Stockholm 1 RAF Switzerland Berne 1 Army Syria Damascus 1 Army Thailand Bangkok 1 Army Turkey Ankara 2 (1 Army, 1 RAF) Uganda Kampala 1 Army Ukraine Kyiv 2 (1 RN, 1 Army) United Arab Emirates Abu Dhabi 1 Army USA Washington 8 (3 RN, 3 Army, 2 RAF) Uzbekistan Tashkent 1 Army Venezuela Caracas 1 RN Zimbabwe Harare 1 Army There are a total of four officers (2 RN, 2 RAF) employed in Canada, Russia, India and USA as Office Managers; these are not accredited diplomatic posts.
The principal role of an attaché is to further the UK's Defence Diplomacy aims in his host country. This is articulated as six core attaché functions:
- Support to Defence Diplomacy;
- Provision of Operational Military Advice and Assistance;
- Provision of Politico-Military Advice;
- Support to Defence Intelligence;
- Support to Defence Exports; and
- Representation and Administrative Support.
With the exception of Washington, the average percentage effort devoted to each core function by attachés employed in British embassy Defence sections is as follows:
- Support to Defence Diplomacy—38 per cent.
- Provision of Operational-Military Advice—16 per cent.
- Provision of Politico-Military Advice—12 per cent.
- Support to Defence Intelligence—8 per cent.
- Support to Defence Exports—16 per cent.
- Representation and Administrative Support—10 per cent.
A similar breakdown of Washington's outputs against the same six functions is as follows:
- Support to Defence Diplomacy—33 per cent.
- Provision of Operational-Military Advice—16 per cent.
- Provision of Politico-Military Advice—15 per cent.
- Support to Defence Intelligence—14 per cent.
- Support to Defence Exports—4 per cent.
- Representation and Administrative Support—18 per cent.
The main area of variance between Washington and the rest of the world is its support to Defence Exports. Within the British Defence Staff Washington there is a significant non-diplomatically accredited Defence Equipment Staff dedicated to supporting this core function.