Chief of the Defence Staff (United Kingdom)
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The Chief of the Defence Staff is the professional head of the British military. The post was created in 1956 to reflect the new conceptions of joint operations that had come to the fore in World War II. Prior to the creation of the post, the Chiefs of Staff Committee had had one of its members, who are the professional heads of the three Armed Services as a chairman.
From its formation up until the mid-1990s, the Chief of the Defence Staff held substantive five-star rank, being either a Marshal of the Royal Air Force, Field Marshal or Admiral of the Fleet, depending on the service he was from. However, with defence cuts, having a serving five star officer was seen as too expensive, and too high in rank for the post-Cold War size of the British Armed Forces. Consequently, since then the Chief of the Defence Staff has held four star rank.
The current Chief of the Defence Staff is General Sir Michael Walker. It is planned that he will be succeeded by the current Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup in May 2006.