It’s a pleasure to be back in Washington. Thank you to Lord Mandelson and the British Defence Staff, and to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies for hosting what is probably my last public speech as Chief of the Defence Staff.

There normally comes a point when a Chief steps down that they let forth on all the frustrations and opinions they have bottled up during their time in post.

Those of you hoping for me to let rip, or to spill the beans on the inner workings of the four different administrations I’ve served, will be disappointed.

I’m afraid I’m going to be irritatingly consistent. My narrative today is pretty much the same as it was at the outset of my tenure four years ago.

For those of you who haven’t made it through one of my speeches before, the gist is as foll

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