Profile - Director of RUSI

Profile of the Director of the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies
Published in The Sunday Times June 8th 2008

Professor Michael Clarke is the first non-military man to be director of Britain’s top defence think tank - the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies - since its creation by the Duke of Wellington in 1831.

“In the UK we’ve long since got over the military/civil distinction, but in many countries, particularly in Asia and the Middle East, if you’re not a military officer they wonder why you’re doing this job. I have to prove I know about defence.”

“RUSI’s Council was interested in me because they want it to become a more internationally recognised think tank. So as well as CEO I’m also a research entrepreneur.”

Clarke, 57, has impeccable credentials. He founded The Centre For Defence Studies at Kings College, London and ran it for 17 years.

“RUSI occupies a unique space in British defence and security, but the whole field is getting wider with terrorism, international crime, civil disruption and more. Our challenge is to fill this space.”

This means finding new funding sources. RUSI, a charity based on Whitehall near Downing Street and the MoD, works intimately with them, but gets no state funding – even though its patron is The Queen.

“I always tell people in Government that we’re of most use when the outside world sees how independent we are. If we are seen as an adjunct of Government people won’t take us seriously.”

The core of RUSI’s work is researching current trends in defence and security and their implications for Britain.

But RUSI’s independence means it can offer controversial views – a recent report argued the world should spend 10 times more on fighting climate change than on defence - and trenchant criticism. For example, Clarke says: “The invasion of Iraq remains a blunder from which Iran has gained most” and Britain and the West have a worse understanding of Middle Eastern politics than for generations.

But he also offers praise. “In terms of dealing with terrorism in the UK, the security forces have done really well. It was hopeless a few years ago, but they’ve made really good progress.”

After returning from a conference in Johannesburg on conflict resolution Clarke’s working week combined his duties as CEO with a whirlwind of sessions meeting politicians, senior defence figures, business leaders and visiting academics.

All feed back into RUSI’s work. Its fastest growing research area is homeland security with continuing studies on UK terrorism, radicalisation and protection of critical national infrastructure. So this week he also attended a Whitehall forum on policing London, spent a day at a terrorism trial as an expert witness, attended a reception for the departing Pakistan High Commissioner and recorded his fortnightly Forces Radio show.

Clarke’s personal academic focus is British defence policy making and nuclear issues – he is an advisor to the UN Secretary General on Disarmament - and this sprawls into his personal time. ”I have to keep up my professorial profile. In an institute like this it is important that we are all seen as big hitters.”