Feature
25 Years After 9/11: Former CENTCOM Commander’s Strategic Warning on What America Still Gets Wrong
Admiral William J. Fallon attending Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa Change of Command ceremony at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti 8 Feb., 2008 (U.S. Navy Photo)
Military.com | By Robert Billard
Published February 23, 2026 at 3:00am ET
Admiral William J. “Fox” Fallon (Ret.), the only U.S. officer in history to command both U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM) and U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), spent more than four decades at the center of some of America’s most critical military decisions.
From Vietnam, to Beirut, to the Pentagon on 9/11, to steering military strategy across two theaters during the height of the Global War on Terror, Fallon’s new memoir, “Decisions, Discord & Diplomacy: From Cairo to Kabul” offers a rare insider’s view. In an exclusive interview with Military.com, Admiral Fallon delivers a clear strategic warning: America continues to sacrifice long-term stability for short-term political wins.
His service, from both inside the beltway all the way to the points of friction at America’s biggest flashpoints, provides invaluable insight into the range of challenges that strategic advisors face across the spectrum of the instruments of national power. Early in his memoir, he offers the following sage wisdom that will become a theme:
https://www.military.com/feature/2026/02/21/25-years-after-9-11-former-centcom-commanders-strategic-warning-what-america-still-gets-wrong.html
