'Don't go all Irish' - Limerick UN security chief retires

Updated / Sunday, 21 Dec 2025 22:27 Yvonne Murray By Yvonne Murray Global Security Reporter How does a young man from Limerick end up as head of security at the UN headquarters in New York? "That’s a question I ask myself every day," says Chief Michael Browne, chuckling. The evening sun falls on New York’s East River, as Mr Browne looks out from his now former office, reflecting on his two decades protecting the United Nations. For the past ten of those years, as Chief of Safety and Security Services, he has led a team of around 330 staff, made up of 54 different nationalities. From brawling delegates to impossible demands, he’s seen it all. At the UN, he says, security has to be done in "a diplomatic dance". "Someone once told me once back in my military career that when you're responsible for an operation or for leading people, you've got to be like a swan on the water – you’ve got to be graceful on top, and you got to pedal like 'you know what’ underneath," he says. Selected as a member of the 53rd Army Cadet class in 1976, Mr Browne went on to study at University College Galway before being deployed to UNIFIL’s Irish peacekeeping contingent in Lebanon. "That's where I got my first exposure to this multinational environment and it very quickly resonated with me," he tells RTÉ News. Later, after a stint in the private sector in Texas, he joined another UN deployment, this time overseeing security operations in Iraq. Then, in 2005, it was on to New York. Receiving a UNIFIL service medal, Lebanon,1985 It’s clear Mr Browne - also known as Mick - has won the affection of his former staff and colleagues, many of whom rush to shake his hand as he walks around UNHQ. "You’re already missed," says Ambrose Gomes, the barista from the lobby café. But in some quarters, it’s been hard won. We meet Captain Dorcus Lourien, from Kenya, who says he gave her a hard time when she was a junior officer. "I called him the witch," she says, laughing, because he would appear out of nowhere to keep her in line. Inspector Charlene Wilson, originally from Trinidad and Tobago and now one of the three most senior uniformed officers at the UN, credits him with encouraging more women to rise up through the ranks. Passing a glass display case of golden artifacts - a gift to the UN from a member state - Mr Browne jokes that one of his most important jobs is to count the pieces of gold every morning "to make sure they’re still here". Looking back, there have been plenty of heart-stopping moments, Mr Browne says, most of them during the UN General Assembly, when world leaders descend on New York for what’s known as the ‘world cup of diplomacy’ every September. During high-level week, the UN campus locks down under tight security, the surrounding streets swarm with US secret service officers...

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