Glen Cover Retires From The United Nations

After 32 years of service, Lt. Glenn Roberts, a Glen Cove native, recently retired from the United Nations where he worked for the Department of Safety and Security. After eight years in the United States Marine Corps from 1979 through 1987, he was hired in 1990 by the United Nations as a security professional in New York City. During his tenure, he had the opportunity to serve in a peacekeeping operation in Mozambique (ONUMOZ) where he worked from 1993 to 1995. Upon returning to UN Headquarters in New York in 1995, he was assigned to protect VIPs and dignitaries. From 1996 through 2002, he was assigned to the SecretaryGeneral’s (SG) Protection Detail for Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Kofi Annan. Among the other protective duty assignments over the years, were Pope John Paul II, Pope Frances, US Presidents George W. Bush, William Jefferson Clinton, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump. Toward the end of his career, he worked in the offices of Crisis Management and Strategic Planning.

Prior to working at the United Nations, he served in the United States Marine Corps, where he was a heavy equipment operator and later served at American Embassies in Warsaw, Poland and Vienna, Austria. While serving to the American Embassy in Poland as a Marine Security Guard, at age 23, he was meritoriously promoted to Staff Sergeant. Upon completion of this tour of duty, he was reassigned to the American Embassy in Vienna, where he served as the Assistant Detachment Commander. In 1987, after serving eight years in the Corps, he was honorably discharged. He then went to work for a security firm by the name of MVM, which supported Federal agencies throughout the Departments of Defense, Justice, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, and State, as well as the Social Security Administration. Contracted through the State Department, as a security professional, he was assigned to the American Embassy in Maputo, Mozambique, where he worked in protecting and securing a brand-new embassy while it was being constructed.

Glenn is happily married to Saada Roberts for the past 25 years and have two children, Kylee and Preston, who graduated from Ithaca and University of Buffalo, respectively, and share their home in Glen Cove with their canine companion, Apollo.

—Submitted by Glenn Roberts