Col Brian S. MacDonald, CD

Commanding Officer

1972-1975

Col (retd) Brian MacDonald began his military career as an Officer Cadet at the Royal Military College of Canada. His first regimental appointment was as a Gun Position Officer in the 4^th Regiment Royal Canadian Horse Artillery where he subsequently held the appointments of Nuclear Target Analyst and Troop Commander. On leaving the Regular Force he transferred to 7 Toronto Regiment Royal Canadian Artillery where his appointments included that of Battery Commander  and Commanding Officer. As Battery Commander he won the national Gun Battery Competition and placed second twice in other National Gun Battery Competitions. After retirement as CO of 7 Toronto Regiment he commanded the Toronto District Officer Training School and finished his active career as the Commander of Toronto District in the rank of Colonel.

In civilian life, after a period of time as a secondary school teacher, he became a Specialist Consultant in the fields of International and Business Security. His clients have included the Departments of National Defence and Foreign Affairs, the Canadian International Development Agency, the Joint Committee of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada on Canada’s Defence Policy, the Sheridan Park Research Community, the City of Mississauga, and Atomic Energy of Canada.

His major civilian appointments have included Executive Director of the Canadian Institute of Strategic Studies, President of the Atlantic Council of Canada, President of the Royal Canadian Artillery Association, Senior Defence Analyst of the Conference of Defence Associations and President of Strategic Insight Planning and Communications.

A graduate of the Royal Military College and York University, he has been a prominent media commentator on security and defence issues, with over thirteen hundred television, radio, and public speaking appearances.

He has appeared as an expert witness before the Committees of the Senate and House of Commons on more than twenty occasions.

His international conference papers have included invitations from Kins College and Emmanuel College of Cambridge University, the German Armed Forces University in Munich, the Beijing Institute for International Strategic Studies, the Shanghai Institute for International Studies and the Atlantic Treaty Association in Budapest, Copenhagen, Edinburgh, Paris, Slovenia, Washington, and Ottawa.

He has edited nineteen books and authored one, Military Spending in Developing Countries: How Much Is Too Much? (Carleton University Press, 1997).

 

v.2017