1995, and knighted in the 1995 Queen's Birthday Honours when he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath. Under Walker's command, the ARRC deployed to the Balkans in December 1995. There, he became the first commander of the land component of the NATO-led Implementation Force (IFOR), until his return to the UK in November 1996. His IFOR command in Bosnia was indirectly criticised by Richard Holbrooke for his refusal to use his authority to also perform nonmilitary implementation tasks, including arresting indicted war criminals: He was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George at the end of 1996. Succeeded as COMARRC by Sir Mike Jackson, Walker was promoted to acting general and appointed Commander in Chief, Land Command on 27 January 1997. He was granted the substantive rank of general on 2 April 1997. In recognition of his service with IFOR between 1995 and 1996, Walker was awarded the American Legion of Merit (Degree of Commander), and granted unrestricted permission to wear the decoration, in May 1997. In September 1997, he was appointed Aide-de-Camp General (ADC Gen) to Queen Elizabeth II, succeeding General Sir Michael Rose, until he in turn was succeeded by General Sir Richard Dannatt. He was promoted to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in the New Year Honours List at the end of 1999. Having served just over three years as Commander-in-Chief, Walker was appointed Chief of the General Staff (CGS)—the professional head of the British Army—on 17 April 2000, taking over from General Sir Roger Wheeler. He remained CGS for three years, after which he was promoted to Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS)—the professional head of all the British Armed Forces—on 2 May 2003, succeeding Admiral Sir Michael Boyce (later Lord Boyce). As CDS, Walker criticised some of the media coverage of British deployments in Iraq. In particular, he claimed that attacks on the Black Watch were "enhanced" due to news reports on their location. He went on to say that "[as a result of the media coverage], there could well have been a response by those who wished us ill to go and meet us with something like a bomb". His comments were rejected by a spokesman for the National Union of Journalists, who retaliated "When generals turn around and start blaming reporters for their own mistakes, it is a sign