Keynote discussion
ABCD 2026
Zamir Nicholas Catsaras
Assistant Secretary General – Defence Policy and Planning
Nick Catsaras has served as NATO's Assistant Secretary General for Defence Policy and Planning since 2025, having previously been Deputy National Security Adviser to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. He is responsible for the Alliance's capability and force planning, posture, plans, and a range of defence policy questions, including nuclear issues. Mr Catsaras began his career in 1995 as an officer in the British Army before joining the UK diplomatic service in 2001, where he worked on the 2002 NATO Prague Summit. He was posted to Budapest before becoming the Private Secretary to the UK’s Minister for Europe, and then the Private Secretary for Foreign and Defence Affairs to Prime Minister Gordon Brown (2008–10). Mr Catsaras was a Deputy Director in the UK Cabinet Office for Prime Minister David Cameron (2010–12), including during the Libya crisis. Mr Catsaras left the UK civil service for seven years, working as a partner at a consulting company, before returning in 2019 as Head of the Security Policy Department in the FCDO. He was Principal Private Secretary to Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab and then Liz Truss, before becoming Director General for Russia–Ukraine in the UK Cabinet Office in January 2023, initially for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and then for Prime Minister Starmer, negotiating the 2024 UK–Ukraine bilateral security cooperation agreement and 2025 UK-Ukraine 100-Year Partnership Treaty. Mr Catsaras combined that role with the Deputy National Security Adviser position from September 2024.
Updated: August 12, 2026