Martin was appointed as head of cyber security at the
Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in December 2013. He recommended the establishment of a
UK National Cyber Security Centre within the intelligence and security agency. This was agreed by the Government and announced by the Chancellor
George Osborne in November 2015. Martin became the first Chief Executive in February 2016, and it became operational in October of that year. On 14 February 2017, the NCSC's new headquarters in
Victoria in
Central London were opened by
Queen Elizabeth II. Prior to joining GCHQ, Martin was Constitution Director at the
Cabinet Office from 2011, helping to agree the framework for the
Scottish independence referendum. From 2008 to 2011, he was Director of Security and Intelligence at the Cabinet Office. His public service career has also included a series of roles elsewhere in the Cabinet Office and in
HM Treasury and the
National Audit Office (NAO). He was a member of the GCHQ Board. He is a past pupil of
Christian Brothers Grammar School, Omagh, where he was very much seen as an all-rounder, being
head-boy, a member of the
MacRory Cup Gaelic football squad and keyboard player with indie rock outfit "Some Kind of Wonderful". He is a graduate of
Hertford College,
University of Oxford, where he studied history. Martin was appointed
Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the
2020 New Year Honours for services to international and global cyber security. Martin had planned on resigning in June 2020 but delayed his resignation until August because of the
COVID-19 pandemic. He was succeeded by
Lindy Cameron. In December 2002, Martin was the 'phone a friend' for Declan Montague on an episode of the ITV gameshow
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. == References ==