Also while on active duty, he served in the White House on the National Security Council staff for Presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

[6] According to General Daniel P. Bolger's book Why We Lost, at an acrimonious meeting in the Clinton White House, Mr. Sheehan asked the members of the Armed Forces present: "Does Al Qaeda have to hit the Pentagon to get your attention?"

In an interview with a local TV channel, former head of the ISI, General Ziauddin Butt said that US did not intend to capture Osama Bin Laden.

General said: "Of the officers US sent to probe for him (Osama Bin Laden), one was a retired major named Sheehan who was extremely unprofessional.

[10] The White House nominated Sheehan to become Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict on November 1, 2011.