One CA podcast listeners, submit your questions for retired General Anthony Zinni.
The retired Marine Corps General spoke at the Civil Affairs Roundtable in April. A recipient of the 2018 John H. Hilldring Award, General Zinni noted, “In every operation since I met those CA guys in eastern Turkey, we’ve needed civil affairs as critical to every mission, especially in answering the nagging question whenever we seized control of the ground – ‘and then what?’ We’re talking a lot about stabilization and consolidation these days, but CA has always been about those things.”
General Zinni, nicknamed "The Godfather," believes policymakers and practitioners must adopt a more anticipatory than adaptive mindset to win in great power competition. He believes a major challenge is getting commanders to understand CA's strategic and operational values.
The former CENTCOM commander wants the CA Regiment to be more aggressive in telling its story and selling its capabilities to regional and joint commands. "Incremental changes will not be enough – it’s time to move boldly ahead," he added. "CA needs to be thought of differently, more a national and global force of its own than just a force multiplier."
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Photo of General Zinni courtesy of Hudson Union/Facebook