David "Dan" Stannard (28 November 1937 – 30 March 2023) was a Zimbabwean policeman who became a Branch Director of the Central Intelligence Organisation, under Ken Flower, thus serving under both the Ian Smith and Robert Mugabe administrations.
[3] Stannard emigrated to Southern Rhodesia and joined the British South Africa Police (BSAP) in March 1957, becoming a career policeman, and a detective in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), serving with distinction.
At the time of Independence in 1980, Stannard was appointed the official Liaison Officer to work with both ZANU and ZAPU guerrillas who were then based at the Audio Visual Centre at the University.
The modus operandi of Rhodesia's campaign to infiltrate political parties, silence public demonstrations, and destabilise action groups during the colonial period were thus passed on to a new generation of partisan intelligence operatives.
Their nephew, also Richard Stannard, was a much-decorated veteran of the Rhodesian SAS and South African Special Forces who later became embroiled with an attempted coup d'etat in the Seychelles.