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
19
September 2023
Past Event
The National Resistance Front of Afghanistan and the Fight against the Taliban
Featured Speakers:
Representative Mike Waltz
Ali Maisam Nazary
Luke Coffey
Moderator:
Nolan Peterson
A demonstrator holds a pro–National Resistance Front placard during a protest in Trafalgar Square on September 12, 2021. (Vuk Valcic/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
19
September 2023
Past Event
The National Resistance Front of Afghanistan and the Fight against the Taliban

Hudson Institute will hold an event to discuss the situation in Afghanistan and America’s best options to support the NRF.

A demonstrator holds a pro–National Resistance Front placard during a protest in Trafalgar Square on September 12, 2021. (Vuk Valcic/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Featured Speakers:
Representative Mike Waltz
Ali Maisam Nazary
Luke Coffey
Moderator:
Nolan Peterson
16
September 2023
Past Event
Central and Eastern Europe Strategy Summit
Featured Speakers:
Peter Rough
John P. Walters
Moderator:
Matthew Boyse
Luke Coffey
Rebeccah L. Heinrichs
Summit Logo
16
September 2023
Past Event
Central and Eastern Europe Strategy Summit

Hudson hosts senior officials from the Bucharest Nine states of Eastern Europe as well as Ukraine and Moldova.

Summit Logo
Featured Speakers:
Peter Rough
John P. Walters
Moderator:
Matthew Boyse
Luke Coffey
Rebeccah L. Heinrichs
15
September 2023
Past Event
Securing Europe’s Tinderbox: Economic and Geopolitical Challenges in the Balkans
Featured Speakers:
Luminița Odobescu
Luke Coffey
Jan Ruzicka
Amb. Cameron Munter
Ekaterina Zaharieva
Jaroslav Kurfürst
Ivana Stradner
Moderator:
Matthew Boyse
Peter Rough
.
15
September 2023
Past Event
Securing Europe’s Tinderbox: Economic and Geopolitical Challenges in the Balkans
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Featured Speakers:
Luminița Odobescu
Luke Coffey
Jan Ruzicka
Amb. Cameron Munter
Ekaterina Zaharieva
Jaroslav Kurfürst
Ivana Stradner
Moderator:
Matthew Boyse
Peter Rough
26
June 2023
Past Event
Mutiny in Russia: Assessing the Implications of Prigozhin’s March on Moscow
Featured Speakers:
Rebeccah L. Heinrichs
Can Kasapoğlu
Luke Coffey
Moderator:
Peter Rough
 Members of Wagner patrol in an area near a tank outside a circus building in the city of Rostov-on-Don, Russia, on June 24, 2023. (Photo by STRINGER/AFP via Getty Images)
26
June 2023
Past Event
Mutiny in Russia: Assessing the Implications of Prigozhin’s March on Moscow

Hudson experts sort through what Yevgeny Prigozhin's short-lived mutiny means and what policymakers should focus on next.

 Members of Wagner patrol in an area near a tank outside a circus building in the city of Rostov-on-Don, Russia, on June 24, 2023. (Photo by STRINGER/AFP via Getty Images)
Featured Speakers:
Rebeccah L. Heinrichs
Can Kasapoğlu
Luke Coffey
Moderator:
Peter Rough