Tim Garden is the defence spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords and former assistant chief of the defence staff at the Ministry of Defence. He is visiting professor at the Centre for Defence Studies at King's College, London and was recently appointed president of the Trading Standards Institute. Since his retirement from the RAF in 1998 Tim Garden has been writing, broadcasting, lecturing and undertaking projects for the British government, the US Department of Defense and NATO. His publications on security topics include Can Deterrence Last? (1984) and The Technology Trap (1989). Garden has served as a member of the panel of experts for the UK government's 1998 Strategic Defence Review and gave evidence to the Defence Select Committee on the new threats after 11 September 2001. He also acted as military advisor for the BBC television series Crisis Command. Tim Garden holds a degree in physics from Oxford University and took a postgraduate degree in international relations from the University of Cambridge after completing his training at the RAF. He received his knighthood in 1994 and was appointed as a Chevalier de l'Ordre National de la LÌ©gion d'Honneur for his work on European defence issues.