SECURITY SERVICE DIRECTOR GENERAL TO RETIRE (13.12.06)

Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller will retire in April 2007 as the Security Service's Director General. She joined the Service's Management Board in 1993, became Deputy Director General in 1996 and Director General in 2002. In a statement, Dame Eliza said: "By April 2007 I shall have been an officer of the Security Service for 33 years, the last ten as either Director General or Deputy Director General. I decided in early 2005 that it would be time by then to step down." The Home Secretary, Dr John Reid MP, paid tribute to her achievements: "Eliza has given 33 years of dedicated service to the nation and we owe her a tremendous debt of gratitude."