Rear Admiral Kevin Cook assumed the duties as Deputy Commander, Coast Guard Atlantic Area in July 2011. As Deputy Commander he is responsible for all U.S. Coast Guard missions within a geographic region that ranges the Rocky Mountains to the Arabian Gulf and spans across five Coast Guard Districts and 40 states. Prior to that, he had served as Director of Prevention Policy responsible for many of the Coast Guard’s Marine Safety, Security and Stewardship missions affecting waterways management, domestic and international shipping, recreational and fishing boats, and port facilities.

At the time of his flag officer selection, Rear Admiral Cook was serving as Chief of Staff for the Thirteenth Coast Guard District, Seattle, Washington. In his first flag assignment, he was Director of the Operations Command Implementation Team in Portsmouth, Virginia, leading the effort to integrate oversight of all Coast Guard operations into a single Operations Command.

Previous duty assignments include three tours afloat: CGC MADRONA as a deck watch officer; CGC BITTERSWEET as the Executive Officer; and CGC COWSLIP as the Commanding Officer. Additionally, he has had a number of tours ashore. His Coast Guard Headquarters assignments were as a staff engineer in the Hazardous Materials Division, where he later returned as Division Chief. As such, he served as the Coast Guard's leading policy advisor for commercial transport of hazardous oil, chemical, and liquefied gas cargoes, including duties as a U.S. delegation leader for related work at the International Maritime Organization.

Rear Admiral Cook has held a variety of field positions supporting the Marine Safety, Security, and Environmental Protection mission areas; first, as a mid-grade officer at Marine Safety Office Hampton Roads, Virginia. Later he was assigned at Marine Safety Office Houston-Galveston, Texas, as Executive Officer, and subsequently Commanding Officer. There he served as Captain of the Port for the ports of Houston, Galveston, Texas City, and Freeport, and offshore waters. For two years following 9/11, he also directed maritime homeland security operations through command of the regional Task Unit that included members serving in Coast Guard units and Navy patrol boats spanning from Freeport, Texas, eastward to Lake Charles, Louisiana.

A native of Freehold, NJ, he graduated from the Coast Guard Academy in 1979 with a Bachelors of Science Degree in Ocean Engineering. Rear Admiral Cook also earned a Master of Science Degree in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University. He is a 1999 graduate of the U.S. Army War College. In 2003, he was appointed as the Coast Guard Fellow to Chief of Naval Operations Strategic Studies Group. His military decorations include the Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal, Coast Guard Commendation Medal, and Coast Guard Achievement Medal. Additionally, he was recognized by the National Propeller Club as the Port of Houston Maritime Person of the Year for 2003.