Jānis Kažociņš was born in UK of Latvian parents. He grew up and was educated in England. After a career of 30 years in the British Army he retired early in August 2002 with the rank of brigadier (NATO 1 star) in order to live permanently in Latvia. In May 2003 and again in May 2008 he was appointed Director of the Constitution Protection Bureau (Latvia’s external intelligence service) by the Latvian Parliament for a period of 5 years. During 2011 he was Chairman of NATO’s Civilian Intelligence Committee. From 2013 to 2015 he was an adviser on international and cyber security issues to the Minister of Defence and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Since January 2016 he has been the President’s National Security Adviser and Secretary of the National Security Council.