Luke Coffey

Senior Fellow

luke_coffey

At A Glance:

Luke Coffey is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute. His work analyzes national security and foreign policy, with a focus on Europe, Eurasia, NATO, and transatlantic relations.

Biography

Luke Coffey is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute. His work at Hudson analyzes national security and foreign policy, with a focus on Europe, Eurasia, NATO, and transatlantic relations.

Mr. Coffey was previously director of the Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies at the Heritage Foundation from 2015 to 2022, in which role he oversaw and managed a team covering most of Heritage’s foreign policy and international affairs work. From 2012 to 2015, he was the Margaret Thatcher fellow at Heritage, focusing on relations between the United States and the United Kingdom and on the role of NATO and the European Union in transatlantic and Eurasian security.

Before joining Heritage, Mr. Coffey served at the UK Ministry of Defence as senior special adviser to then-British Defence Secretary Liam Fox. He was the first non-UK citizen appointed to this position by the prime minister to provide advice to senior British ministers. Among his duties was helping shape British defense policy in relation to transatlantic security, NATO, the Middle-East, and Afghanistan.

Mr. Coffey previously worked in the House of Commons as an adviser on defense and security issues for the Conservative Party. He helped develop and implement policy initiatives on security and defense matters, in particular drafting the defense section of the party’s 2010 election manifesto.

His work in British politics followed his service to the United States as a commissioned officer in the Army. He spent his entire time on active duty overseas and was stationed in Italy with the Army’s Southern European Task Force. In 2005, Mr. Coffey deployed to Afghanistan for a year and was awarded the Bronze Star.

Mr. Coffey’s commentary and analysis have been widely published and he has been interviewed on television and radio by prestigious media outlets in the US and overseas.

Mr. Coffey has testified before the US Congress on NATO, Arctic security, the war in Afghanistan, and US policy in the South Caucasus. He has provided written testimony to the UK’s House of Lords Committee on the Arctic. His research has been quoted in reports by the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee and the House of Lords Committee on the Arctic.

Mr. Coffey received a Master of Science degree in the politics and government of the European Union from the London School of Economics. He holds a BA in political science from the University of Missouri–St. Louis and studied African politics at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa.

An avid traveler, Mr. Coffey has lived on four continents and visited more than seventy countries. A native of Missouri, he and his family currently reside in Northern Virginia.

Events
28
February 2024
Past Event
Taking Stock of Ukraine in 2024
Featured Speakers:
Lieutenant General Karel Řehka
Lieutenant General Leonard Kosinski
Jan Jireš
Oksana Markarova
Mark Newton
Maria Tomak
Luke Coffey
Rebeccah L. Heinrichs
Rustem Umerov
Moderators:
Peter Rough
Jeremy Hunt
A Ukrainian flag is hanging in the window of an apartment building that has been heavily damaged during Russia's massive rocket attack on Kyiv, in Kyiv, Ukraine, on January 3, 2024. (Maxym Marusenko/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
28
February 2024
Past Event
Taking Stock of Ukraine in 2024
A Ukrainian flag is hanging in the window of an apartment building that has been heavily damaged during Russia's massive rocket attack on Kyiv, in Kyiv, Ukraine, on January 3, 2024. (Maxym Marusenko/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Featured Speakers:
Lieutenant General Karel Řehka
Lieutenant General Leonard Kosinski
Jan Jireš
Oksana Markarova
Mark Newton
Maria Tomak
Luke Coffey
Rebeccah L. Heinrichs
Rustem Umerov
Moderators:
Peter Rough
Jeremy Hunt
30
January 2024
Past Event
Russia, Ukraine, and the Future of the Transatlantic Community
Featured Speakers:
Rt Hon. Sir Liam Fox
Mikhail Khodorkovsky
Moderator:
Luke Coffey
A Ukrainian anti-aircraft vehicle drives towards a firing position at the Bakhmut frontline in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, on January 13, 2024. (Ignacio Marin/Anadolu via Getty Images)
30
January 2024
Past Event
Russia, Ukraine, and the Future of the Transatlantic Community
A Ukrainian anti-aircraft vehicle drives towards a firing position at the Bakhmut frontline in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, on January 13, 2024. (Ignacio Marin/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Featured Speakers:
Rt Hon. Sir Liam Fox
Mikhail Khodorkovsky
Moderator:
Luke Coffey
18
December 2023
Past Event
Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen on the Future of US-Finland Relations
Featured Speakers:
Luke Coffey
Elina Valtonen
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Finland, Elina Valtonen on July 6, 2023. (NATO via Flickr)
18
December 2023
Past Event
Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen on the Future of US-Finland Relations
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Finland, Elina Valtonen on July 6, 2023. (NATO via Flickr)
Featured Speakers:
Luke Coffey
Elina Valtonen
01
December 2023
Past Event
US National Security and Ukraine: A Bipartisan Conversation with Representatives Don Bacon and Chrissy Houlahan
Featured Speakers:
Rep. Chrissy Houlahan
Rep. Don Bacon
Tamar Jacoby
John P. Walters
Luke Coffey
Ukrainian soldiers train in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, on October 29, 2023. (Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu via Getty Images)
01
December 2023
Past Event
US National Security and Ukraine: A Bipartisan Conversation with Representatives Don Bacon and Chrissy Houlahan

Please join Hudson Institute and the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) for a discussion with Representatives Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) and Don Bacon (R-NE) on these critical questions. The event will be moderated by Hudson Senior Fellow Luke Coffey and Tamar Jacoby, who directs PPI’s New Ukraine Project, with brief opening remarks from Hudson President John Walters.

Ukrainian soldiers train in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, on October 29, 2023. (Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Featured Speakers:
Rep. Chrissy Houlahan
Rep. Don Bacon
Tamar Jacoby
John P. Walters
Luke Coffey
This aerial photograph taken on February 1, 2024, shows residential buildings destroyed by shelling in Izyum, Kharkiv region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Roman PILIPEY / AFP) (Photo by ROMAN PILIPEY/AFP via Getty Images)
Caption
Residential buildings destroyed by shelling in Izyum, Kharkiv, on February 1, 2024. (Roman Pilipey/AFP via Getty Images)
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Reports
6 Min Read