Dr Roger Hutton

Former senior civil servant

Dr Roger Hutton retired as a Senior Civil Servant in the UK’s Ministry of Defence in 2020. Roger’s last job in the Department was Director International Security, with responsibility for operational and international security policy towards a significant proportion of the globe; and for policy on UN Peacekeeping.  Previously, he had worked as MOD’s Director Chilcot (responsible for the MOD’s response to the findings of the Iraq Inquiry, including the well-received guide to effective decision-making, The Good Operation), Strategy Director and Transformation Director. At various points in his career, Roger also worked in the Department for Culture, Media, and Sport, the Home Office, the NHS, and on secondment to the private sector. He continues to take an interest in international security issues and the factors shaping effective decision-making, including as Honorary Associate Professor at the Strategy and Security Institute at the University of Exeter. 

Between 2015 and 2020, Roger was senior champion for non-religious and humanist personnel in the MOD, and remains President of Defence Humanists, a section of Humanists UK. In both capacities, Roger has taken a leading role in raising the profile of the non-religious in UK Defence, establishing non-religious Remembrance and developing non-religious pastoral support for the armed forces. 

Roger blogs on the range of subjects, including humanism, international and domestic politics and classical music, at This Page Left Intentionally Blank; is ally representative for the Proud Valiants (Charlton Athletic’s LGBT supporters’ group); spends much of his time singing opera as an amateur bass-baritone; and dabbles in composition, including a setting for a cappella choir of Siegfried Sassoon’s poem Secret Music, a piece written specifically for Remembrance and premiered by the Chamber Choir of Midsummer Opera in November 2022. Roger has a PhD on defence policy; Masters in Science Policy and International Relations respectively; and a BSc in Physics with European Studies. He speaks fluent German.