Joseph P . Hoar General Joseph P . Hoar ( born December 30 , 1934 ) is a retired U . S . Marine Corps officer , former Commander in Chief of United States Central Command . He retired from the Corps on September 1 , 1994 . Military career . Hoar attended Boston College High School , then went on to graduate from Tufts University and receive a second lieutenant ' s commission in the Marine Corps in 1957 . After graduating from the Basic School at Quantico , he was assigned as a rifle platoon commander with the 5th Marine Regiment . Later assignments included duty with 1st Battalion , 1st Marines at Camp Pendleton , battalion staff officer on Okinawa , the Marine Barracks at Yorktown , Virginia and Assistant Manpower , Personnel and Administration Officer at Camp Lejeune . During the Vietnam War Hoar was assigned with the 2nd Marine Division , commanding Company M , 3rd Battalion , 2nd Mar . Regiment of that unit . He later served as a battalion and brigade adviser with a South Vietnam ese Marine unit . He then returned stateside , completing a three - year tour of duty in Washington , D . C . as an operations officer and as Special Assistant to the Assistant Marine Corps Commandant . In 1971 , he again went overseas as Executive Officer of 1st Battalion , 9th Marines . From 1972 - 76 Hoar was an instructor at the Marine Corps Command and Staff College , later returning to Marine Headquarters where he served in the Personnel Management Division . In 1977 , he returned to 1st Marines as commander of its 3rd Battalion , later accepting duty with the Division ' s staff , where he was promoted to colonel . General Hoar served as 1st Marines regimental commander from 1979 - 81 . After completing this tour he was assigned to the 31st Marine Amphibious Unit aboard , participating in three deployments in the Indian Ocean . He then returned to the U . S . as Assistant Chief of Staff for Manpower , Personnel and Administration , gaining a promotion to brigadier general in February 1984 . In 1985 , he returned to Washington as Director of the Facilities and Services Division at Marine HQ . 1987 saw Hoar accept a position as Commanding General at the Parris Island recruit depot ; later that year he was promoted to major general . Hoar moved to MacDill AFB , Florida in 1988 as Chief of Staff for U . S . Central Command . He returned to Headquarters Marine Corps in June 1990 , earning a promotion to lieutenant general while serving there as Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans , Policies and Operations . After a year at this assignment he returned to CENTCOM as its commander on August 9 , 1991 , relieving General H . Norman Schwarzkopf . He remained in that capacity until his retirement three years later . While in command of CENTCOM , General Hoar oversaw a number of different operations in the region , including enforcement of the Persian Gulf and Red Sea naval embargo , enforcement of the southern no - fly zone over Iraq , ground operations in Somalia , and American troop evacuation from Yemen during that country ' s civil war in 1994 . Post military career . After retirement , he set up a consulting company involved in business ventures in various places in the Middle East and Africa . He has served as Director of Hawaiian Airlines , as a Fellow of the World Economic Forum , and on the boards of trustees of Suffolk University and the Center for Naval Analyses . General Hoar drew upon his experience with CENTCOM in the days leading up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq to stress the importance of allied cooperation , notably the ability to base military operations from Saudi Arabia , Jordan and Turkey , as key to success in the region . As U . S . strategy for the invasion coalesced , Hoar expressed misgivings , in particular regarding the number of troops committed to the operation A year after the official cessation of hostilities , Hoar continued to maintain that coalition forces did not have enough troops on the ground to accomplish their mission . In December 2003 , Hoar stated that Assistant Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz , " . . . doesn ' t know much about the business he ' s in " . In testimony before the Senate committee on foreign relations on May 19 , 2004 , he stated regarding the situation in Iraq , " I believe we are absolutely on the brink of failure . We are looking into the abyss " On September 7 , 2004 , Hoar and seven other retired officers wrote an open letter to President Bush expressing their concern over the number of allegations of abuse of prisoners in U . S . military custody . In it they wrote : In March 2006 , Hoar joined fellow former United States Marines General Tony Zinni , Lt . General Greg Newbold , Lt . General Frank E . Petersen , and Congressman Jack Murtha in endorsing fellow former U . S . Marine and Secretary of the Navy Jim Webb for U . S . Senate in Virginia . Hoar is currently on the Board of Directors for the Middle East Policy Council , a Washington D . C . based non - profit organization that seeks to educate American citizens and policy makers about the political , economic and security issues impacting U . S . national interests in the Middle East Education and awards . Hoar holds a Master ' s Degree from George Washington University and is also a graduate of the National War College and the Marine Corps Command and Staff College . His military decorations include :