Zulkifeli Mohd Zin

He was educated at Sultan Ismail College (SIC) in Kelantan. On 9 August 1974, upon completion of his cadet training in Sandhurst, he was first commissioned as a second lieutenant to the 2nd Royal Malay Regiment as a platoon commander.

He holds a Master of Science degree from the National Defense University.

He is also a graduate from the Malaysian Armed Forces Staff College (MTAT) and the Malaysian Armed Forces Defence College (MPAT). Both colleges have since been consolidated as one under the National Defense Studies Centre (Puspahanas).

Throughout his military career, he has held various positions ranging from platoon commander to commanding officer.

He also held staff positions in the Army Headquarters and Training Institute. This included stints as Staff Officer of the Army Headquarters as well as the Trick Trainer at the Army Training Centre of Johor Bahru. In 1999 and 2000, he was the Infantry Director of the Army Headquarters.

While serving as a colonel, he was the commandant of Army Combat Training Centre (PULADA) and Resource Colonel in the Army Headquarters.

He was promoted to the rank of brigadier general in 2002 and held the office of assistant commander of Reserve Services Division. He also commanded 8th Infantry Brigade (8 Bgd) from 2003 to 2004 in Kelantan. He was then promoted to the rank of major general and was entrusted by the military high command to lead the International Monitoring Team Mission – Mindanao as the commander of the Monitoring Team between 9 October 2004 and 31 August 2005.

Then, he was the 3rd Infantry Division (3 Div) Commander from 17 October 2005 to 31 January 2007. He was the commander of Army Field Headquarters from 2 January 2007 to 1 June 2008.

As a dedicated leader, he was appointed deputy army commander on 2 June 2008 – serving until 20 May 2010 upon which he was appointed Chief of Army (Malay: Panglima Tentera Darat — PTD).

Due to high confidence in him, he was appointed the 18th Chief of Defence Forces effective on 15 June 2011.^[2]

He retired on 16 December 2016.^[3][4]

He was appointed the 1st Director General of National Security Council (NSC; Malay: Majlis Keselamatan Negara — MKN) on 15 August 2016, when he still holding the post of Chief of Defence Forces.^[5] He has been the first-ever with military background appointed to the seat.^[6] Before this, the title for NSC chief is 'Secretary General' and given only to Senior Civil Servant in Malaysian Government.^[7] He was replaced by Engku Hamzah Tuan Mat as director general of NSC beginning 1 September 2018.^[8]

He is married to Puan Sri Datin Seri Umi Kalsom Wan Awang and together had two daughters.