James Babbage
James Babbage is the Director General for Threats (Economic and Organised Crime) at the National Crime Agency. He joined the NCA as Director General Threats in June 2023.
In this role he is responsible for leading the national whole-of-system response to economic and organised crime, the National Economic Crime Centre (a public-private interdepartmental partnership), the National Cyber Crime Unit, and business direction of NCA’s internal transformation programme.
James was an Intelligence officer and GCHQ civil servant for nearly 30 years. He led the transformation of GCHQ’s analysis capabilities, including through improved collaboration with the other UK intelligence agencies.
James worked closely with industry partners and has provided strategic cybersecurity advice to foreign governments in the context of cyber threats to, and attacks on, critical national infrastructure.
Most recently (2020-23) James established and led the UK National Cyber Force, a partnership between Defence and the intelligence agencies. James is committed to strengthening public discourse on intelligence and cyber matters; National Cyber Force: Responsible Cyber Power in Practice, published in April 2023, sets out how principles of responsible state behaviour apply to offensive cyber operations.