Michael Quinlan

Sir Michael Edward Quinlan, GCB (11 August 1930 – 26 February 2009) was a former British defence strategist and former Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Defence, who wrote and lectured on defence and matters of international security, especially nuclear weapon policies and doctrine, and also on concepts of 'Just War' and related ethical issues.

Early life Quinlan was born on 11 August 1930 in Hampton, Middlesex, England He completed his national service in the RAF He was Deputy Secretary (policy and programmes) at the Ministry of Defence (MoD) from 1977 to 1981. He was Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defence from 1988 to 1992. In 2001, he became Chairman of The Tablet Trust, publisher of the Catholic newspaper The Tablet.

He was one of the world's foremost experts in deterrence theory, contributing to debate and books in this field. He also wrote his own book on this matter shortly before his death. His contributions were recognised by Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, in a speech given on 17 March 2009. Historian of government Peter Hennessy called him the leading in-house defence intellectual MOD has possessed since World War II.

He died on 26 February 2009.

Honours

Quinlan as appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the 1980 Birthday Honours, promoted to Knight Commander of the Order (KCB) in the 1985 New Year Honours, and again to Knight Grand Cross of the Order (GCB) in the 1991 New Year Honours.

Personal life Quinlan married Mary Finlay in 1965, with whom he had four children including actress and comedy writer Carrie Quinlan. He was a devout Roman Catholic.