He became a 2nd lieutenant of the Force Publique of the Congo Free State and was assigned to the Ubangi-Bomu region, where Georges-Édouard Le Marinel was preparing an expedition to the Nile.
Bureau was promoted to lieutenant on 26 June 1898, and the next day was appointed secretary of the prosecution of the Auditor General of the Military Court.
He and three other officers were dispatched to Turkey to provide "technical assistance" to the Ottoman Empire in reorganizing the armed police of Rumelia.
[1] On 7 January 1911 Bureau was again seconded to the Military Cartographic Institute and placed at the disposal of the Minister of Colonies for service in the Congo.
He requested early leave so he could fight on the Yser Front, and disembarked at Le Havre on 1 February 1915.
In 1917 Bureau was made one the first vice-governors general of the Belgian Congo, along with Charles Tombeur, Adolphe De Meulemeester, Georges Moulaert and Martin Rutten.
[2] Bureau wrote to the colonial minister on 4 January 1924, forwarding Dr. Emile Lejeune's report on labor conditions in the Huileries du Congo Belge (HCB).
Before leaving office Bureau presided over preparations in Elisabethville for the visit of King Albert and Queen Elisabeth in 1928.
In retirement he was president of the water distribution board of the Congo and administrator of the Kilo-Moto gold mines and the Jules Van Lancker Company.
[1] On 14 February 1934 Bureau was named as a member of the board of the University Institute of Overseas Territories [fr] in Antwerp.