The director of the Security and Intelligence Division at the Ministry of Defence (Mindef), Mr Joseph Leong, will be appointed Permanent Secretary (Defence Development) on March 1.

The 48-year-old will step down from his current role and take over the position which has been vacant since Mr Neo Kian Hong left it on Aug 1 last year to become the chief executive of SMRT.

Mr Leong will also be appointed concurrently as Second Permanent Secretary (Communications and Information) (Designate) with effect from March 1 and take over the role from April 1.

Mr Leong joined the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) in 1990 and was awarded the President's and SAF (Overseas) Scholarship.

He was appointed to the Administrative Service in 1995 and in the course of his 24-year military career, rose to the rank of rear-admiral and held various key appointments.

These included fleet commander, director of military intelligence, chief of command, control, communications, computers and intelligence, and head of the SAF's Joint Plans and Transformation Department.

Mr Neo previously worked in the SAF and held other appointments in the public sector for over 30 years, including permanent secretary in education development at the Ministry of Education from 2013 to 2017.

Vanessa Liu