Luke Coffey is a political adviser and US Army veteran. Coffey formerly worked as a Special Adviser to the Rt. Hon Dr Liam Fox

Liam Fox

Liam Fox MP is a British Conservative politician, Member of Parliament for North Somerset, and former Secretary of State for Defence....

, the Secretary of State for Defence

Secretary of State for Defence

The Secretary of State for Defence, popularly known as the Defence Secretary, is the senior Government of the United Kingdom minister in charge of the Ministry of Defence, chairing the Defence Council. It is a Cabinet position...

 in the United Kingdom. He is also a member of the Council for Emerging National Security Affairs (CENSA) thinktank.

Education

Coffey attended Wentworth Military Academy

Wentworth Military Academy

Wentworth Military Academy and College is a private four-year college preparatory high school and military junior college. It is located in Lexington, Missouri, part of the Greater Kansas City Metropolitan Area. Wentworth is the oldest military academy west of the Mississippi River, and the...

 where he was commissioned in the U.S. Army as a distinguished military graduate of the Reserve Officer Training Corps programme. He earned a bachelor of arts degree in Political Science from the University of Missouri-St. Louis, studied African politics at the University of the Western Cape

University of the Western Cape

The University of the Western Cape is a public university located in the Bellville suburb of Cape Town, South Africa. It was established in 1960 by the South African government as a university for Coloured people only...

 in South Africa as a visiting undergraduate, and earned a master of science degree in European Union Politics from the London School of Economics

London School of Economics

The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...

.

Military career

Prior to British politics Coffey served as a Captain in the US Army as part of the Southern European Task Force (AIRBORNE) based in Vicenza, Italy and deployed to Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

 as part of Operation Enduring Freedom in 2005.

Career

Coffey began is work with the Conservative Party

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

 in 2006 in the office of Mark Harper

Mark Harper

Mark James Harper British politician and self-employed accountant . He is the Conservative Member of Parliament for Forest of Dean and is currently the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Cabinet Office, with ministerial responsibility for Political and Constitutional Reform.-Early life...

 MP. He also worked for Liam Fox when Fox was Shadow Secretary of State for Defence prior to the May 2010 UK General Election.

In June 2010 it was wrongly reported in the Sunday Times that Coffey, as an American citizen, did not have the proper security clearance to undertake his role as Special Adviser to the British Defence Secretary. However, the Ministry of Defence has stated that Coffey has been subject to the necessary security vetting for him to undertake his role.