Goethe "Bud" Aldriudge is a senior consultant of The Soufan Group with over 50 years experience in the security world. He is a former Marine Corps Officer, and retired civilian Special Agent and Senior Executive with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS).  His career spans 32 years in the federal law enforcement, counterintelligence community and 20 years as Corporate Security Consultant.

Mr. Aldridge has served as a Security Consultant to the U.S. Government, Philippine Government, World Bank, and State of Qatar and has provided litigation assists too many law firms internationally. He has conducted Threat Risk Vulnerability Assessments in the oil fields and refineries of the Middle East; and Southeast Asia for numerous multi-national corporations producing a myriad of consumer products, including pharmaceuticals, food, and beverages.  He has extensive experience in the investigation of counterfeit product, malicious product tampering, intellectual property, general crimes and work-place violence.

As a Consultant to the World Bank and Philippine Government, Mr. Aldridge led the Security Transition Team in the highly successful conversion of the U.S. Naval Base, Subic Bay to a Special Economic Zone and Free Port. The project involved preparing and implementing security procedures for an international airport and plans to protect 10,000 acres of virgin rain forest from illegal logging and infrastructure facilities valued at billions of dollars from pilferage by jungle and water borne intruders.  

He has broad crisis management experience and has been a crisis management planner and responder for several multi-national corporations and has conducted related Physical Security Surveys and Assessments of maritime, aviation, manufacturing and corporate facilities to include executive residences in order to mitigate hostile foreign environs.

Recently Mr. Aldridge was responsible for developing and implementing a successful negotiating strategy for the release of an International Aid Worker who had been kidnapped and held for ransom by the Philippine terrorist group Abu Sayyaf for several months; the Aid Worker was constantly threatened with beheading during negotiations and forced to watch the beheading of one of his guards after a botched escape attempt.

In December 2009 he narrated and facilitated kidnap related Crisis Management training for all World Bank, Regional Security Officers, at a global conference in Washington DC. The tabletop exercises involved various kidnap scenarios in the Darfur region of Sudan and appropriate Crisis Response. Mr. Aldridge has provided numerous international corporations with Kidnap related Crisis response training; the Worldwide Threat; and Kidnap Avoidance/Survival.  

During his U.S. Government career Mr. Aldridge held many supervisory positions in operational field offices worldwide. Those assignments required total engagement in criminal and counterintelligence investigations and operations.  He is an experienced hostage negotiator and among many others negotiated the 1977, (44) hour, siege of the Prudential Bank of the Philippines.  He concluded his government career in Washington, DC, with successive assignments as Deputy Director, Criminal Investigations, Deputy Director Counterintelligence, Special Projects and the Director Technical Services, with oversight responsibilities for four forensic laboratories.  One of those laboratories was significantly involved in identifying the remains, of missing Vietnam War dead. During his 32 year Government career he received numerous commendations and outstanding performance awards.

In addition to many others, professional schools attended have included: The DIA Defense Intelligence School, the FBI Terrorism & Hostage Negotiations Course, The NYPD Schlossberg, Hostage Negotiations School, and the DEA Narcotics Course. 

Mr. Aldridge has a B.A. degree in Education and Psychology from Barton College, and attended Pepperdine University's, HRM, Masters Program and the U.S. Government's, Senior Executive Institute, at the University of Colorado, Denver.