Bud Coote was a nonresident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center. Coote recently retired from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as the agency’s leading international energy analyst and a key adviser to senior US officials on a wide array of global energy issues. He helped to establish and build the CIA’s energy program dating back to the early 1970’s, producing actionable intelligence that directly supported and helped shape decisions made by US policy officials, foreign officials, and private companies. He earned the Distinguished Career Service Medal for his work on energy security as well as the William L. Langer award, the directorate of intelligence’s highest award in support of the directorate’s mission.

Coote has briefed US presidents and vice presidents, as well as Secretaries of State, Defense, Energy, Treasury, and Commerce, National Security Advisors, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Members of Congress, and numerous other senior US and foreign officials on global and regional energy issues, especially Eurasian issues. He has traveled extensively in Eurasia, the Middle East, and Europe, frequently accompanying US Special Envoys for Eurasian Energy and other senior US officials. He has directly supported the military through multiple crises and authored intelligence assessments on international energy trends, including analyses of oil and gas resources, long-term oil and gas supply growth, and trends in technology and investment. He has also assessed infrastructure and project vulnerabilities and risks, the impact of resource nationalism, trends in oil and gas field depreciation, and the potential for gains in efficiency of oil and gas use.

Coote completed the postgraduate program in petroleum engineering and geology at the Colorado School of Mines in 1982. He holds a Masters of Arts in economics from George Washington University and a Bachelor of Arts in government and economics from Wesleyan University. He also is a member of the British Special Forces Club.