Mr. Abdulai Caulker is a seasoned security sector practitioner with over 22 years wealth of experience in the security sector of Sierra Leone. He is one of the few founding members of the Office of National Security (ONS), who played a pivotal role in talent-spotting and recruiting the current crop of senior Directors at the ONS.

Mr. Caulker holds a Master’s degree in Educational Administration and has several professional certifications, including, amongst others, in Security Sector Reform, Personnel Administration and Management, Human Resource Development, Trade Craft, Agent Targeting, National Security Coordination and Management of Emergencies, Investigating Techniques and Research Methods, Ethics and Integrity, Policy Analysis, Conflict Analysis and Mediation, Early Warning and Early Response, Educational Law, Management and Administration.

Mr. Caulker has contributed immensely to ensuring that the ONS remains very strong and able to provide strategic leadership for the security sector of Sierra Leone, thus contributing its quota to the governance and democratisation process of Sierra Leone. He has worked with several development and/or donor partners including UNDP, DfID, ADB, IMATT, ISAT, etc. and possesses the ability to facilitate grants on-behalf of Government and to oversee the successful implementation of targeted projects for sustainable development and national security.

Mr. Caulker served as Chairman, Movement for the Restoration of Democracy during the 1997 interregnum. Whilst in Conakry, he was appointed by the Government of Sierra Leone to serve as Programme Officer to monitor sanction busters, a programme sponsored by DfID, to monitor sanctions on the then AFRC regime. It was in this organisation that the idea of establishing a coordinating institution for the security sector in Sierra Leone was conceived, consequently leading to the establishment of the ONS.

Since the establishment of the ONS, Mr. Caulker has held several strategic positions, including Deputy Director, National Intelligence Unit (NIU) for Southern and Eastern Provinces (1999 – 2000), Director, Administration and Finance (2000 – 2016), Director, Finance and Corporate Services (2016 – 2018), Deputy National Security Coordinator (2018 – 2020) and Acting National Security Coordinator (November, 2020 – January, 2022). He remained in this post until he was appointed by His Excellency the President, as National Security Coordinator on 12th January, 2022.

Mr. Caulker is innovative, a strategic thinker, team player and a go-getter. He perseveres in his endeavours and is well-grounded and knowledgeable on issues relating to security sector coordination and governance. Being a security expert and a seasoned administrator, he was the team lead for a set of ONS staff that travelled to Israel in 2008 for a capacity building training in National security and Intelligence.

Under Mr. Abdulai Caulker’s leadership as National Security Coordinator, it is expected that the security sector will aspire towards monumental efficiency in its security service delivery to make Sierra Leone and its people safe and secure at all times.