Chemical Warrior

Hamish de Bretton-Gordon is a world leading expert in chemical, biological and nuclear (CBRN) weapons. Hamish is a commissioned reserve officer in the British Army's Staff Corp as senior advisor & mentor to the Ministry of Defence on CBRN. He is advising NGOs and journalists in Ukraine on CBRN defence. He is also advising the Ukraine Government on CBRN defence in the war with Russia.

Hamish served 23 years in the British Army including service as Commanding Officer of the UK CBRN Regiment and NATO's Rapid Reaction CBRN Battalion. His operational deployments included the 1st Gulf War, Cyprus, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan and has been in Syria & Iraq frequently in the last 10 years. This considerable experience in the field places Hamish as one of the world's leading and most current experts in chemical, biological and nuclear counter terrorism and humanitarian operations.

Hamish has worked in Syria during the current conflict setting up the CBRN Task Force and advising medical charities, the White Helmets and the Idlib Health Directorate on treating the victims of chemical weapons attacks and collation of evidence. He advised the Peshmerga 2015-17 on CBRN matters and trained them on several occasions to counter the ISIL chemical attacks in Northern Iraq.

Today, Hamish gives advice to UK and US Government agencies and is a senior Ministry of Defence advisor on CBRN and Syria, and is frequently seen on global news channels providing expert commentary, and writes in UK, Middle East and US news journals and newspapers. He was a Visiting Fellow at Magdalene College Cambridge in 2020-2022 and his memoir Chemical Warrior was published in 2021.

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