Brigadier General Brendan Cook

Director General Air and Space Force Development Royal Canadian Air Force

Brigadier-General Brendan Cook joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1991. He attended Royal Roads Military College in Victoria, BC, graduating in the last class of Royal Rodents in 1995 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Oceanography and Earth Observational Science. After earning his Air Navigator Wings in 1996 and he was posted to 407 Maritime Patrol Squadron in Comox, BC and served as an Acoustic Sensor Operator.

On completion of his first operational tour in 2000, Brigadier-General Cook completed his Master of Physics in Underwater Acoustics at the Royal Military College and later posted to the Acoustic Data Analysis Centre (Pacific) in Victoria, BC where he assumed the position of Acoustics Research Officer. In 2005 he was posted to the Maritime Proving and Evaluation Unit where he oversaw the testing, evaluation and procedures development for Block III Aurora acoustic system, contributed to the development and testing of the Overland Equipment Mission Suite, and participated in the testing and procedures development of the Heron UAV system in Afghanistan in 2009.

He was promoted to the rank of Major in 2008 and completed his tour with MPEU as the DCO in 2010 and subsequently attended the Joint Command and Staff Program at the Canadian Forces College in Toronto, ON. In 2011, Brigadier-General Cook was posted to the Strategic Joint Staff at NDHQ Ottawa. During his time at the SJS he worked in Western Hemisphere Operations, J3 Coordination and later as EA Director of Staff SJS, where he participated in the planning and conduction of operations at the strategic level.

In 2014 he was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel and assumed command of 405 Squadron. Later that same year deployed as the Long Range Patrol Detachment Commander for Op IMPACT Roto 0. Brigadier-General Cook was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal for his time at Op IMPACT leading the training, deployment, activation and execution of overland Aurora combat missions that provided intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities over Iraq. He returned in 2015 to complete his command tour of 405 Squadron, after which Brigadier-General Cook assumed duties as Director of Air Requirements 3, responsible for managing Maritime Air Requirements for RCAF until his promotion to Colonel in April 2018.

In 2019 Brigadier-General Cook graduated of the United States Air War College and assumed command of 14 Wing Greenwood later that year. In 2021 he deployed to the Combined Air Operations Centre Qatar to serve as a Battle Director, before returning to complete his command tour at 14 Wing. In 2022 he assumed the role of Special Advisor to the Chief of Defence Staff. In 2023 he was promoted to his current rank and was assigned to be the Chief of Staff to the Chief of Defence Staff. In July 2024, he assumed his current duties as the Director General Air and Space Force Development.

Brigadier-General Cook and his wife have two children.