Anthony Zinni

Anthony Charles Zinni is a retired United States Marine Corps general and a former Commander in Chief of the United States Central Command. From 2001 to 2003, he served as a special envoy for the United States to Israel and the Palestinian Authority. From 2017 to 2019, he served as a special envoy to help resolve the Qatar diplomatic crisis.
While serving as a special envoy, Zinni was also an instructor in the Department of International Studies at the Virginia Military Institute. He later served as an instructor at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University, a public speaker, and an author of best-selling books on his military career and foreign affairs, including Battle for Peace., he was involved in the corporate world, joining M.I.C. Industries as its president for International Operations in 2005.
Zinni also serves or has served on the advisory boards of a number of companies, including the security testing firm, Mu Dynamics, based in Sunnyvale, California. He joined Duke University's Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy in spring 2008 as the Sanford Distinguished Lecturer in Residence and taught a new course in the Hart Leadership Program. Zinni also serves on the board of directors for Caliburn International, a military contracting conglomerate that includes operations for Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Children.
He has been credited for foresight in predicting the dangers of terrorism coming out of Afghanistan before the September 11 attacks of 2001, and for supporting the Iraq War troop surge of 2007. In October 2009, he came out firmly in support of General Stanley A. McChrystal's request for up to 40,000 additional troops in Afghanistan.

Early life and education

Zinni was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania and raised in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, the son of Lilla, a seamstress and homemaker, and Antonio Zinni, a chauffeur. His parents were of Italian descent. His father was drafted into the U.S. Army shortly after immigrating and served in World War I, being promoted to corporal and later receiving citizenship. Zinni's brother served in the Korean War.
In 1965, Zinni graduated from Villanova University with a B.S. degree in economics and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps. He later earned an M.A. degree in management and supervision from Central Michigan University in 1984 and a second M.A. degree in international relations from Salve Regina College in 1987. Zinni graduated from the Marine Corps Command and Staff College in 1978 and the National War College in 1984. He attended the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School in 1967 and the Amphibious Warfare School in 1970. In 2023, Zinni was awarded an honorary degree from Salve Regina University.

Career

U.S. Marine Corps

After completion of the Basic School in 1965, Zinni was assigned to the 2nd Marine Division, where he served as a platoon commander, company executive officer, and company commander in the 1st Battalion, 6th Marines. He also served as a company commander in the 1st Infantry Training Regiment during this tour. In 1967, Zinni was assigned as an infantry battalion advisor to the Vietnamese Marine Corps. Following his service in the Vietnam War, he was ordered to the Basic School where he served as a tactics instructor, platoon commander, and company executive officer. In 1970, he returned to Vietnam as a company commander in 1st Battalion, 5th Marines where he was wounded, evacuated, and subsequently assigned to the 3rd Force Service Support Group on Okinawa. There he served as a company commander and guard officer. In 1971, Zinni returned to the 2nd Marine Division, where he served as a company commander in the 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, Aide de Camp to the Commanding General, and Officer in Charge of the Infantry Training Center. In 1974, he was assigned to Headquarters Marine Corps, where he was assigned as the Retention and Release Officer and Plans Officer in the Officer Assignment Branch of the Manpower Department.
Zinni again served in the 2nd Marine Division in 1978, as the Operations Officer of the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines, Executive Officer of the 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, Executive Officer of the 8th Marine Regiment and Commanding Officer of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines. In 1981, he was assigned as an operations and tactics instructor at the Marine Corps Command and Staff College at Quantico, Virginia. He was next assigned to the Operations Division at Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps where he served as the Head of the Special Operations and Terrorism Counteraction Section and as the Head, Marine Air-Ground Task Force Concepts and Capabilities Branch. In 1984, he earned his master's degree from Central Michigan University. In 1986, he was selected as a fellow on the Chief of Naval Operations Strategic Studies Group. From 1987 to 1989, Zinni served on Okinawa as the regimental commander of the 9th Marine Regiment and the Commanding Officer of the 35th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which was twice deployed to the Philippines to conduct emergency security operations and disaster relief operations. Upon his return to the U.S., he was assigned as the Chief of Staff of the Marine Air-Ground Training and Education Center at Marine Corps Base Quantico.
His initial general officer assignment was as the Deputy Director of Operations at the U.S. European Command. In 1991, he served as the Chief of Staff and Deputy Commanding General of Combined Task Force Operation Provide Comfort during the Kurdish relief effort in Turkey and Iraq. He also served as the Military Coordinator for Operation Provide Hope, the relief effort for the former Soviet Union. In 1992–93, he served as the Director for Operations for the Unified Task Force in Somalia for Operation Restore Hope. Also in 1993, he served as the Assistant to the U.S. Special Envoy to Somalia during Operation Continue Hope/UNOSOM II. Zinni was assigned as the Deputy Commanding General, U.S. Marine Corps Combat Development Command, Quantico, Virginia, from 1992 to 1994.
From 1994 to 1996, he served as the Commanding General, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. During early 1995, Zinni served as Commander of the Combined Task Force for Operation United Shield, protecting the withdrawal of U.N. forces from Somalia.
From September 1996 until August 1997, Zinni served as the Deputy Commander in Chief, United States Central Command. His final tour was from August 1997 to September 2000 as the Commander in Chief, United States Central Command, MacDill Air Force Base, Florida. He organized Operation Desert Fox, a series of airstrikes against Iraq during December 1998, with the stated purpose of degrading Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program. As CinCCENT, he and General Wesley Clark, CINCEUR, held a mini-summit between their commands to determine policies over Africa. Clark was reluctant to support Zinni's activist attempts to engage more in Africa. Following his command of CENTCOM, he retired in autumn 2000.

Testimony before Congress

On March 15, 2000, Zinni testified before Congress:

Iraq remains the most significant near-term threat to U.S. interests in the Persian Gulf region. This is primarily due to its large conventional military force, the pursuit of WMD, oppressive treatment of Iraqi citizens, refusal to comply with United Nations Security Council resolutions, persistent threats to the enforcement of the no-fly zones, and continued efforts to violate UN Security Council sanctions through oil smuggling.
While Iraq's WMD capabilities were degraded under UN supervision and set back by Coalition strikes, some capabilities remain and others could quickly be regenerated. Despite claims that WMD efforts have ceased, Iraq probably is continuing clandestine nuclear research, retains stocks of chemical and biological munitions, and is concealing extended-range SCUD missiles, possibly equipped with CBW payloads. Even if Baghdad reversed its course and surrendered all WMD capabilities, it retains the scientific, technical, and industrial infrastructure to replace agents and munitions within weeks or months. A special concern is the absence of a UN inspection and monitoring presence, which until December 1998 had been paramount to preventing a large-scale resumption of prohibited weapons programs. A new disarmament regime must be reintroduced into Iraq as soon as possible and allowed to carry out the mandates dictated by the post-Gulf War UN resolutions.

Zinni also warned about terrorism:

Extremists like Osama bin Laden and his World Islamic Front network benefit from the global nature of communications that permits recruitment, fundraising, and direct connections to sub-elements worldwide... Terrorists are seeking more lethal weaponry to include: chemical, biological, radiological, and even nuclear components with which to perpetrate more sensational attacks... Three of the seven recognized state-sponsors of terrorism are within this potentially volatile area, and the Taliban regime in Afghanistan has been sanctioned by the UN Security Council for its harboring of Osama bin Laden. Nearly one-half of the 28 recognized terrorist organizations have operational sites within the region. Afghanistan has emerged as a catalyst for regional instability offering sanctuary, support, and training facilities to a growing number of extremist elements.

Special envoy

From 2001 to 2003, Zinni served as a special envoy for the U.S. to Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
In August 2017, he traveled to the Persian Gulf at the request of United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to help mediate the Qatar diplomatic crisis. Zinni resigned from his position as an envoy in January 2019, for he thought he could not resolve the dispute.

CNA Military Advisory Board

Gen. Zinni served on the CNA Military Advisory Board, the first group of retired generals and admirals to examine the national security implications of climate change. Founded in 2006 by Sherri Goodman, the CNA Military Advisory board brought together military leaders from the United States Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps. The landmark report of the CNA Military Advisory Board, National Security and the Threat of Climate Change, established the concept of climate change as a “threat multiplier.”
In the 2007 report, General Zinni referenced the inevitability of climate change and the need to take action now. General Zinni was one of the first leaders to appreciate the link between climate change, migration, terrorism, and instability. He wanted to “look at how climate change effects could drive populations to migrate. ... What kinds of conflicts might result from their migration? You may also have a population that is traumatized by an event or change in condition triggered by climate change... It’s not hard to make the connection between climate change and instability and climate change and terrorism.”