Author Information:

Hamish de Bretton-Gordon OBE RE(V) Chemical Biological Radiological & Nuclear (CBRN) Expert Humanitarian operations in warzones expert Director Doctors Under Fire One of the world's leading experts on chemical and biological counter-terrorism, Hamish de-Bretton-Gordon OBE served as Commanding Officer of the UK's Joint CBRN Regiment and NATO's Rapid Reaction CBRN Battalion. He is co-founder and director of Doctors Under Fire with Professor David Nott, where he helps train doctors and civilians on how to deal with the threat from chemical weapons, and advises the UK Government at the highest level on CBRN - including the recent Novichok poisoning in Salisbury. He frequently appears in global media as an expert commentator, has several academic posts, and in 1991 he briefly held the world press-up record. Hamish served 23 years in the British Army including service as Commanding Officer of the UK CBRN Regiment and NATO's Rapid Reaction CBRN Battalion. His operational deployments included the 1st Gulf War, Cyprus, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan and has been in Syria & Iraq frequently in the last 8 years. This considerable experience in the field places Hamish as one of the world's leading and most current experts in chemical and biological counter terrorism and warfare. Hamish on leaving the Army in 2011 founded the Bio Security company SecureBio. This company was acquired by Avon protection in 2014 where Hamish was a senior executive until April 2020. He has worked with the Kurdistan Regional Government in Northern Iraq to decontaminate Halabja, and has most recently provided guidance to civilians, UK Government and the international community on safety round chemical and biological weapon use in Syria and Iraq. Hamish has worked in Syria during the current conflict setting up the CBRN Task Force and advising medical charities, the White Helmets and the Idlib Health Directorate on treating the victims of chemical weapons attacks and collation of evidence. He advised the Peshmerga 2015-17 on CBRN matters and trained them on a number of occasions to counter the ISIL chemical attacks in N Iraq. Hamish is probably the leading expert on ISIS CBRN capabilities and plans and was 'gassed' by them near Mosul in April 2016. He travels regularly to the US, Syria, Iraq and other Middle and Far Eastern countries advising on CBRN Counter Terrorism and humanitarian support in warzones. He lectures on CBRN and humanitarian intervention at Cambridge, Imperial and Bournemouth Universities. Today Hamish gives advice to UK Government agencies and is a senior MOD advisor on CBRN and Syria, and is frequently seen on global news channels providing expert commentary, and writes in UK, Middle East and US news journals and newspapers. He takes up the position of Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Magdalene College Cambridge in Oct 20 and his memoir 'Chemical Warrior' is published 03 Sep 20