Sir David Rolland Spedding KCMG CVO OBE (7 March 1943 – 13 June 2001) was head of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) from 1994 to 1999.
David Spedding was the son of a Border Regiment lieutenant colonel,[1][2] and grew up in the middle class.
[3] He was initially educated at Sherborne School, then read history at Hertford College, Oxford.
[5] In 1971 Spedding was named as the local SIS station commander in Lebanon, and was later posted to Abu Dhabi in 1977.
[7] During his tenure the SIS faced some degree of negative publicity due to unauthorized disclosures in the wake of Richard Tomlinson's dismissal.