Brigadier Jeffrey Curmi served as Commander of the Armed Forces of Malta (AFM) and as Malta’s Chief of Defence between December 2013 and June 2022. His academic qualifications include a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Physics and a Master of Science in Security and Risk Management.
Curmi joined the AFM in 1994 and graduated from The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (UK) in 1996. Throughout his 28 years of military service he specialised in numerous fields including EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal), IEDD (Improvised Explosive Device Disposal), Post-blast Investigations, CBRN(Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear), Diving and Salvage Diving, as well as Strategic Intelligence. These specialisations were awarded by the most renowned military/police academies/schools around the world including the UK, USA, Italy, Spain, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland and Denmark.
At Sandhurst, Curmi was awarded the best overseas student prize –“The Cane of Honour”, by HM The Queen of the United Kingdom. At the United States Navy Dive School he was awarded the prestigious “Honor Man” award for qualifying once again as the top student in the course, amongst both US and international candidates.
This wide spectrum of specialisations and vast operational experience provided Jeffrey Curmi with the opportunity to work closely with entities such as the Law Courts, the Malta Police Force and the Civil Protection Department. He alsoserved as a member of the EU Military Committee, as Chairperson of the Explosives Committee, and as a member on a number of committees including the National Sovereignty and Jurisdiction Commission, the Maritime Security Committeeand the Aviation Security Committee. Curmi has alsobeen deployed on military operations abroad, including an EOD operation in Libya 2011 andan anti-piracy mission as Chief Intelligence Analyst at EUNAVFOR ATALANTA Operational Headquarters UK, in 2012.
Since 2014 and under Curmi’s command, the Armed Forces of Malta has year after year ranked first on the Standard Eurobarometer when it came to the general public’s trust ininstitutions. In 2022, the AFM was awarded the Best Practice Award, conferred by the National Audit Office.
Curmi is a casual lecturer andan examiner within the Department of Criminology at the University of Malta. He is a Court Technical Expert in explosives and diving incidents, and was also appointed as Court Technical Expert by the International Criminal Courts during the Libyan Crisis in 2011.