[citation needed] Following Command and Staff College, Catto was assigned to Headquarters Marine Corps in Washington, D.C., where he served in Manpower as the Major's Rotary-Wing Assignment Officer and then as the Administrative Assistant to the Deputy Commandant for Aviation.

Following this tour, he was assigned to the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, California, as a Marine Corps Fellow.

[citation needed] From June 2000 to June 2002, Catto served concurrently as commanding general, Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory, and vice chief of naval research, Office of Naval Research.

Catto retired from the Marine Corps in late 2008 and then served as a director for Raytheon.

In the 2024 United States presidential election, Catto endorsed Kamala Harris.