Croatian Government at its session held on 12 July 2012, on the recommendation of the Minister of Defence, appointed Lieutenant General Darko Grdić as the new Chief Defence Inspector.
Lieutenant General Darko Grdić /born 1961) has been in the armed forces since the beginning of their formation in 1991. He was a wartime commander of the Operational Group Zagreb and the Zagreb City Defence, Chief of Staff of the Osijek Military District and the Chief of Army Service Directorate in the General Staff. After the war he was the head of the Military Office of the President, Chief of the Operations Directorate, Commander of the Military Academy "Petar Zrinski" and Military Representative of Croatia to NATO and the EU in Brussels. The last four years he was director of the Military Security Intelligence Agency.

He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General in 2003. General Grdić graduated from the Faculty of Political Science and has a Masters in Economics, University of Zagreb. He graduated from the Command and Staff College 'Blago Zadro' and U.S. Army War College, where he obtained a master's degree in strategic studies. The office succeeds from former Chief Defence Inspector Lieutenant General Marijan Mareković.