Anthony Zinni

Anthony Charles Zinni (born September 17, 1943) is a former United States Marine Corps general and a former Commander in Chief of the United States Central Command (CENTCOM).

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.

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.

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.

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 graduated from the Marine Corps Command and Staff College in 1978 and the National War College in 1984.

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.

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.

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.

From 2001 to 2003, he served as a special envoy for the United States to Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

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.

, 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.

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.

Zinni was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania and raised in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, the son of Lilla (née Disabatino), 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.

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.