Talat Masood

Lieutenant General Talat Masood, (HI(M), SI(M), TK(M)), is a now-retired three-star general and a career army engineer officer in the Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers. He is the former Colonel Commandant and the Engineer-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army Corps of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering (EME). Masood is a "Grade-A" graduate of the Command and Staff College, Quetta and the National Defence University, Rawalpindi of the Armed Forces. General Masood has a Bachelors degree in mechanical engineering and a Masters in defence and strategic studies.

Military career
Masood is a military scientist and engineer who has played a major role in the engineering projects of Pakistan Army. Talat Masood joined Pakistan Army in 1951 and two years later, he was inducted into the Corps of Engineers where he received his B.Sc. (Hons). in mechanical engineering with the distinctions from Army College of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering. He remained associated with civil projects constructed by the Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers. He then attended the National Defence University, Islamabad and completed his Master's degree in Strategic studies in 1957. He then started his engineering career from DESTO where he led several military projects. He was a project manager of the Armoured personnel carrier project, designed for the Pakistan Army. He remained associated with Pakistan Army's military project until he retired from the army. Talat participated in 1965 Indo-Pak War and the 1971 Winter war, where he had briefly served in the Indo-Pak front. After the 1971 war, Talat Masood was given transferred to Defence Science and Technology Organization (DESTO) where he was in charge of weapon development projects. In 1974, Talat was transferred to Pakistan Ordnance Factories where he was one of the noted military scientists who were involved in Pakistan's nuclear weapons program.

General Masood was then transferred to Heavy Industries Taxila (HIT) where he was put in charge of several military's classified weapon technology projects. At HIT, General Talat Masood also worked as an Engineer-in-Chief of Pakistan Army Engineering Corps of Pakistan Army, heading and supervising several classified military and weapon technology projects. In 1986, he was made given transfer to DESTO where he was put deputy in charge of the Missile Integration Programme, and led the Army Engineer Battalion to developed the mechanical and electrical components and technologies required in the missiles.

In 1987, He was made the principal commander (Colonel Commandant) of Pakistan Army Corps of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering (EME). Lt. Gen. Masood was chairman and chief executive of the Pakistan Ordnance Factories Board, where he oversaw the modernization and expansion of military technologies. He retired from Pakistan Army in 1991.

Post-retirement activities
After his retirement, he briefly wrote on the issues of security, political, and atomic issues in national newspapers and foreign magazines and was a prominent commentator on national and international television and radio networks. He served as a Secretary for Defence Production or DESTO in the Ministry of Defence of Pakistan, after serving for 39 years in DESTO.

After his retirement Talat Masood became a consultant for a leading U.S. defense manufacturer UDLP for five years. He had signed a multi million dollar contract with UDLP as secretary of defense production shortly before his retirement. He was a visiting fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington, D.C. from November–December 1997. Currently, he briefly writes about Pakistan and India's nuclear program. He has been playing an important role in Pakistan's atomic program and Pakistan's atomic policy as well.