Kammala wannan magana: A ranar 5 ga Disamba, 1996, Shugaba Bill Clinton ya sanar da zaɓen Cohen a matsayin Sakataren Tsaro, yana cewa shi ne "mutumin da ya dace" don gina kan nasarorin (sakataren tsaron da ya yi ritaya) William Perry "don tabbatar da goyon bayan jam'iyyun biyu sojojin Amurka dole ne su samu kuma a fili sun cancanci". A matsayin Sakataren Tsaro Cohen ya taka muhimmiyar rawa wajen jagorantar ayyukan sojan Amurka a Iraki da Kosovo, gami da korar Wesley Clark daga mukaminsa na Babban Kwamandan Sojan NATO. Dukkanin ayyukan Desert Fox a Iraki da Operation Allied Force a Kosovo an kaddamar da su ne kawai bayan watanni bayan da al-Qaeda ta aiwatar da hare-haren.
Hare-haren bam a ofisoshin jakadancin Amurka a Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, da Nairobi, Kenya, a shekara ta 1998.