Upon his return to the British chain of command in early 2000, he assumed the position of Commander-in-Chief, Land Command, the second-highest position in the British Army, and a post which entailed promotion to full general and membership of the Army Board. As Commander-in-Chief, Jackson was responsible for assembling forces for the 2000 British intervention in Sierra Leone, which included Brigadier David Richards—later Chief of the Defence Staff—and Jackson's son Mark. He also handled requests from the civilian authorities for assistance with the foot-and-mouth disease crisis, floods and strikes by firefighters and fuel-tanker drivers. While still Commander-in-Chief, he stood in for the Chief of the General Staff, marching behind the coffin at the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, in 2002. At the time of the 11 September 2001 attacks, Jackson was on a visit to the British training facility in Alberta, Canada. He managed to return to the UK the next day aboard a casualty evacuation aircraft and had overall responsibility for force generation for the British Army's contribution to the subsequent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.