He was the commanding officer of the United States Navy destroyer USS Cole on October 12, 2000, when the ship was attacked and bombed by al-Qaeda terrorists during a refueling stop in the Yemeni port of Aden, killing 17 U.S. sailors.
On August 22, 2006, the Associated Press reported that Secretary of the Navy Donald C. Winter removed Lippold from the promotion list.
[7] Lippold's final U.S. Navy assignment was to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations in the International Strategy Division.
[6][10][11] On June 22, 2009, The Washington Times published an op-ed by Lippold that was critical of the Barack Obama administration, for not showing enough sympathy to American victims of terror.
[citation needed] On December 12, 2012, Phillip Stutts & Company Inc., a political marketing organization, announced that Lippold was joining the firm as Senior Vice President for Military Policy and Strategic Development.