FIOR appoints Lieutenant General Sir Tom Copinger-Symes as Adviser on Defence, Cyber and AI, Cyber and AI

Former Deputy Commander of UK Cyber & Specialist Operations Command joins to advise on defence, national security and the deployment of secure autonomous AI

LONDON, LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, October 1, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — FIOR, the identity and enforcement layer for AI agents, today announced the appointment of Lieutenant General (Retd) Sir Tom Copinger-Symes KCB CBE as an Adviser to the company on defence, cyber, national security and the secure adoption of autonomous AI.

Sir Tom’s appointment comes as governments and armed forces accelerate the adoption of AI across intelligence, cyber operations, logistics, decision support, command & control, and other mission-critical functions.

AI agents will increasingly be able to interact directly with data, software, communications networks, operational systems and physical infrastructure. Traditional security controls were largely designed around people, devices and applications rather than autonomous software capable of taking actions independently. As autonomy increases, security architecture is evolving from simply authenticating access to controlling machine authority.

FIOR is building the infrastructure for that shift, giving each AI agent a verifiable identity, binding it to the authority delegated to it and enforcing what it is permitted to do before an action executes.

Against this backdrop, Sir Tom brings more than three decades of military and national security experience, combining operational command with senior responsibility for the digital transformation of UK Defence and the development of its cyber, data and information capabilities.

Most recently, Sir Tom served as Deputy Commander of UK Strategic Command, later renamed Cyber & Specialist Operations Command, with responsibilities spanning some of the UK’s most important joint military capabilities including establishment of the Defence Cyber & Electromagnetic Force and expanding the National Cyber Force.

Earlier senior appointments included Director of Military Digitisation, where he was responsible for the Digital Strategy for Defence. That work introduced the concept of a Digital Backbone connecting sensors, decision-makers and effectors across the battlespace, since adopted by NATO.

The rapid development of autonomous AI creates a new security challenge for Defence, governments and critical infrastructure. FIOR addresses this problem by creating an independent identity and enforcement layer for AI agents.

FIOR identifies every AI agent, binds it to approved authority, enforces policy at runtime and creates auditable evidence of its actions. Rather than relying upon an AI model to obey instructions or policy, FIOR sits at the infrastructure boundary and checks identity, authority and policy before an action is executed.
The technology is designed to complement existing IAM, SIEM, firewall, observability and AI platforms, adding an agent-native control plane across models, tools, APIs, SaaS platforms and enterprise data.

David Williams, Founder and CEO of FIOR, said:
“Tom has spent much of the last decade thinking about a problem which is now becoming critical far beyond defence: how digital technology, data and increasingly autonomous systems change the way organisations operate, and how we retain effective command and control as that happens.
“AI agents represent a fundamental change because they are moving from providing information to taking action. Once an AI can access systems, invoke tools, communicate with other machines or change something in the real world, identity and authority become security questions.
“We should not rely on an autonomous AI agent choosing to remain within its authority. We need infrastructure that makes those limits technically enforceable.
“Tom’s experience across operational command, cyber, intelligence, and digital transformation makes him exceptionally well placed to advise us as we develop this technology for Defence, government and other organisations operating critical infrastructure.”

Lieutenant General (Retd) Sir Tom Copinger-Symes KCB CBE said:
“AI, cyber and digital technologies are changing both the character of conflict and the way complex organisations operate. The opportunity is considerable, but increasing autonomy also must be matched by clear accountability and control.
“As AI systems become capable of taking actions across digital and physical infrastructure, organisations need to know which agent is acting, under whose authority, what it is permitted to do and whether that authority can be constrained or withdrawn. Of course this is exactly the same approach we take with military forces in combat – delegating as much freedom as possible to enable speed, innovation and creativity in achieving a mission, but maintaining guardrails to ensure security, ethics and control.
“FIOR is addressing this challenge at the infrastructure level. Its approach of combining verifiable identity with enforceable controls over what AI agents are permitted to do. This approach, which governs agents before they act, rather than relying solely on monitoring afterwards, is what makes its work particularly compelling.

“I am pleased to be advising FIOR as it develops its technology and relationships across defence, government and the wider national security and critical-infrastructure community.”

About FIOR
FIOR is the identity and enforcement layer for AI agents.
FIOR’s AI Agent Enforcement Gateway enables organisations to identify AI agents, establish the authority delegated to them and enforce what each agent is permitted to do before actions are executed.
Designed to operate across organisational and technology boundaries, FIOR provides cryptographic identity, deterministic runtime policy enforcement, rapid revocation and tamper-evident audit capabilities for autonomous AI systems.
FIOR works alongside existing IAM, SIEM, firewall, observability and AI platforms, providing an agent-native control plane across models, tools, APIs, SaaS platforms and enterprise data.
FIOR works with enterprises, governments, technology companies and infrastructure providers seeking to deploy AI agents securely and at scale.
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ENDS
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Henry Lerwill & Francesca Eaton, Hawthorn Advisors
fior@hawthornadvisors.com

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