In 2003 he acted as the head of a Security Council mission to West Africa to assess the UN activities there, including the work of United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone.[4]
Greenstock left his position in Baghdad in March 2004, on a timing agreed with the UK government.
Greenstock wrote a book about his role in the Iraq war that was expected to be released in autumn 2005, but was withdrawn from publication at the request of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Greenstock appeared on the Charlie Rose talk show on 14 May 2008 and explained some of the contents of his book. During the interview he stated categorically that British and American leaders had known since 1998 that Iraq under Saddam Hussein had no nuclear weapon capabilities or programs.[5]
After leaving the diplomatic service, Greenstock held numerous positions. He was the Director of the Ditchley Foundation until August 2010 and a Special Adviser to BP from July 2004 to June 2010. Currently[when?] he is the Chairman of the United Nations Association of the UK, as well as the Chairman of Gatehouse Advisory Partners and of Lambert Energy Advisory Ltd. He is an advisor to the International Rescue Committee-UK and to the NGO Forward Thinking, and a non-executive director of De La Rue.
He has three children - Katie, Nick, and Alexandra.
Iraq: The Cost of War – Greenstock's diary of events leading up to, during, and after the Iraq War, which was banned from publication in 2005 after an intervention by then Foreign Secretary Jack Straw – was published in 2016.[9]