Christopher Leslie Elliott

Major General Christopher Leslie Elliott (born 18 March 1947) is a retired senior British Army Officer and author. He was educated at Pocklington School, the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and the Royal Military College of Science, Shrivenham, where he earned a bachelor's degree in engineering. became a lieutenant in 1969, Captain in 1973, and Major in 1979. In 1969 he was created a Member of the Order of British Empire for Gallantry, following an incident in which he was instrumental in rescuing an injured man whilst climbing on Mont Blanc.

Elliott commanded 48 Field Squadron Royal Engineers from 1980. He was made a Lieutenant-Colonel in 1984 and a Colonel in 1989. He commanded 21 Engineer Regiment (1986–88) and the 6th Armoured Brigade (1990–91) as part of the British Army of the Rhine. His military staff appointments included Assistant Chief of Staff 1st British Corps (1988–90), Director of Studies at the Staff College, Camberley (1991–92), Director of the UK Higher Command and Staff Course, and the Director of Military Operations in the Ministry of Defence (1993–95). As a result of this work, the Institution of Civil Engineers formed a Working Party—including Elliott— which led to changes to UK Building Regulations to improve building safety in the event of a blast. In 1995, he contributed a chapter to the book "Blast effects on buildings: design of buildings to optimize resistance to blast loading". Elliott was made Director General and Chief Executive of the newly formed UK Army Training and Recruiting Agency, After three years he was created a Companion of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath. He then served as Chief of Staff to the Quartermaster General from 1999 to 2000, retiring from active service in 2002. For his last six years of service he was a Commissioner of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea. He was a visiting professor to Cranfield University from 2002 to 2015. President of the Institution of Royal Engineers from 2002 to 2007 He was President of Victim Support Wiltshire, an independent charity supporting the victims of crime, from 2003 to 2009.

In 2012 Elliott enrolled as a Research Fellow in the Changing Character of Warfare Programme in the Faculty of History of the University of Oxford, studying under Professor Sir Hew Strachan. The book was positively reviewed, and won the Society for Army Historical Research's Templer Best First Book Award in 2015. He has since lectured on the subject.

Eliott enjoys sailing and paragliding. He was Commodore of the Royal Engineer Yacht Club (1995–96) and the Army Sailing Association (2000–02). and President of the Joint Services Paragliding and Hang Gliding Association (1993-2002). He is a Fellow of the Institution of Royal Engineers. He was elected as a Parish Councillor of Easton Royal from 2003 to 2017.

He married Margaret Bennett in 1970, with whom he had two daughters, one of whom has predeceased him.

Publications and papers "The Protection of Buildings Against Terrorism And Disorder". Proceedings of Institution of Civil Engineers 1992, 94, Paper 9930. "Blast Effects on Buildings" 1995 (chapter) Thomas Telford Publications. . Second Edition, 2009. "The Impact of the Media on the Prosecution of Contemporary Warfare" – British Army Review 1992. "Terrorism – Why Do Buildings Collapse?" RUSI Security Monitor 2 Dec/3 Jan Vol 1 No 5. "Preventing Terrorist Attacks on Buildings" RUSI Homeland Security and Resilience Monitor Nov 2003 Vol 2 No 8. "Towards Decision Superiority – The n-legged Spider Diagram" RUSI Journal Vol 148 No 6 Dec 2003. "Command and Control in the Information age. Evolution or Revolution?" RUSI Defence Systems Spring 2005 "Acquisition Issues: The New MoD Partnering Handbook – Fit for Purpose?" RUSI Defence Systems Feb 2009 Review of "Desperate Glory" Sam Kiley Bloomsbury 2009. pp. 106–7 RUSI Journal Vol 154 No 6. Dec 2009 "High Command – British Military Leadership in the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars". Hurst, London 2015. . Paperback edition 2017. "The Chilcot Report: Early Thoughts on Military Matters." RUSI Journal 29 Sept 2016 Vol 161 No 4