Sir Jim Dutton

"Lieutenant General Sir James Benjamin "Jim" Dutton (KCB) is the current Governor of and Commander in Chief of Gibraltar and a retired UK Royal Marines officer. After retiring from the Royal Marines in 2010, Dutton joined Bechtel Corporation as an operations manager, dealing with issues in the Middle East, and went on to become the company's Programme Director for Gabon in 2011 where he helped the President of Gabon re-invest Gabon’s oil wealth into infrastructure and developed the National Infrastructure Master Plan for Gabon and established the l'Agence National Des Grands Travaux, where he was later seconded as Minister.

"He held various staff positions in his early military career, before commanding the 40th Commando Battalion. As a Brigadier, he held two high-level staff posts—the first at the Ministry of Defence in London, as Director of NATO policy, and the second as a British Liaison to the Pentagon shortly after the September 11 attacks, where he was involved in the planning for the subsequent invasion of Afghanistan.

"After the planning for the invasion, Dutton took command of the 3rd Commando Brigade, which was already serving in Afghanistan. In 2003, he led the brigade into the start of Iraq War, supported by units from the British Army as well as the United States Marine Corps, making Dutton the first British officer to command American troops since the Second World War. He commanded his men through heavy resistance from Iraqi forces in the early days of the war.

"As a General Officer, he served as Commandant General Royal Marines, the professional head of the Royal Marines and a dual-hatted appointment as Commander of UK Amphibious Forces, for two years. While in this post, Dutton returned to Iraq to command Multi-national Division (South-East) in 2005, where he attracted media attention through outspoken remarks alleging Iranian support for the insurgents in Iraq. His last field post, as a lieutenant general, was as Deputy Commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. From 2008 to 2009, during the peak of the Taliban insurgency, he was Deputy to 2 great U.S. Generals - David McKiernan and then Stanley McChrystal, who he helped in in redesigning the military strategy to combat the insurgency. Dutton retired in 2010 but was later appointed Governor of Gibraltar, taking up office on 6 December 2013."

• Advisor, Buffaloe Global Strategy Group
• Director, Maisha Group