Martin Laffey

Chief of the Resilience and Emergencies Service

Martin Laffey, of Australia, is serving as the Chief of the Resilience and Emergencies Service for the United Nations Department of Safety and Security in New York at the D1 level. He leads the organization's work on security resilience and emergency response. Martin was previously the Chief Security Adviser in Palestine and deployed into Ukraine to lead the UN security response after the Russian invasion of 2022. He also deployed back to Palestine with the Emergency Response Team during the Gaza War in 2024. Martin served as a country security adviser with UNICEF in Libya, Afghanistan and Somalia, and in Jordan as a regional security adviser on mission. From 2004 to 2013, he held government and commercial roles in aviation and diplomatic security across the Gulf, the Middle East, Central Asia, and North Africa specialising in high-threat complex environments. He has operational service as a military officer in the Middle East and Central Asia. He holds undergraduate degrees in arts and science, and masters degrees in business administration and development.