| Gwyn Jenkins | |
| Allegiance: | United Kingdom |
| Branch: | Royal Marines |
| Rank: | General |
| Commands: | Commandant General Royal Marines Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff 3 Commando Brigade Special Boat Service |
| Battles: | The Troubles International Force East Timor War in Afghanistan Iraq War |
| Awards: | Companion of the Order of the Bath Officer of the Order of the British Empire |
General Gwyn Jenkins, is a senior Royal Marines officer, who served as Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff from August 2022 to June 2024. He was concurrently appointed Commandant General Royal Marines in November 2022.
Jenkins was educated at Malmesbury School.[1] He graduated from the Military College Shrivenham in 2004, where he completed a master's degree in Defence Studies.[2]
Jenkins was commissioned into the Royal Marines in 1990. He spent time as a junior officer in the Commando Logistics Regiment and on operations in Northern Ireland with 42 Commando.[2] He became commanding officer of the Special Boat Service (SBS) in 2009.[3]
In 2011 Jenkins received a written report stating that members of the Army’s Special Air Service (soldiers not under his command) operating in Afghanistan had conducted extrajudicial killings. He referred the matter to his superior officer, the Director Special Forces, recommending a thorough investigation: in response SAS tactics were subject to a rare review. The BBC has subsequently claimed that Jenkins was in fact legally obliged to pass his report to the Royal Military Police as it was an allegation that British forces had committed war crimes. However, he did not, but placed it in a classified dossier in April 2011.[4] He was promoted from acting to full colonel on 1 July 2011. In October of that year Jenkins deployed to Afghanistan as the commander of all British Special Forces in the country.[4] He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) "in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in Afghanistan during the period 1 October 2011 to 31 March 2012".
In 2012, he was appointed military assistant to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.[5] On 1 July 2015, he was promoted from acting to full brigadier. He went on to become Deputy National Security Adviser for Conflict, Stability and Defence in 2016,[6] commander 3 Commando Brigade in 2017,[7] and Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff (Policy) in 2019.[2] Jenkins was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the 2021 New Year Honours.
Jenkins was promoted to general on 30 August 2022, skipping the rank of lieutenant general, and took up the post of Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff.[8] He is the first four-star Royal Marine general since 2016, after Sir Gordon Messenger, and the second since 1977. At the same time he was made an Aide-de-Camp (ADC) to the Queen. Jenkins also became Commandant General Royal Marines on 25 November, succeeding Lieutenant General Robert Magowan. Jenkins became the first full general to serve as Commandant General since the 1970s.[9] On 23 April 2024 Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that Jenkins would become the United Kingdom's next National Security Advisor.[10]
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