Adm. Blair to
relinquish command

Adm. Thomas Fargo, Pacific Fleet
commander, is tapped to replace him
as leader of the U.S. Pacific Command

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By Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.com

The Pentagon has scheduled May 4 as the last day for Adm. Dennis Blair as commander in chief of the U.S. Pacific Command and leader of all military forces in the Pacific.

Blair, who took over as commander on Feb. 20, 1999, has accepted a position as senior fellow at the Institute for Defense Analysis in Alexandria, Va., according to a Pentagon invitation for the May 4 relinquishment-of-command ceremony.

Adm. Thomas Fargo, Pacific Fleet commander, today was nominated by President George Bush to become the new commander in chief of the Pacific Command, replacing Blair.

Fargo was named the 29th Pacific Fleet boss on Oct., 8, 1999. Fargo is a 1970 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md.

The Pentagon did not name a successor to Fargo, who presided over the Pacific Fleet during some of its tumultuous times including the sinking of a Japanese fisheries training vessel, the Ehime Maru, Feb. 9, 2001, and the collision between a Navy reconnaissance plane and a Chinese jet that same year.

Blair's relinquishment-of-command ceremony will be held 4 p.m. May 4 at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe Bay. He is slated to leave Hawaii that night.

Besides graduating from Annapolis, Blair attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. He also served as a White House Fellow and as a Chief of Naval Operations Fellow in the Strategic Studies Group.

Yesterday, both Blair and Gen. Joseph Ralston, chief of the command for the European region, told the House Armed Services Committee that the U.S. military would be without adequate forces in the Pacific and European regions if resources continue to be diverted to Afghanistan and if the United States strikes Iraq.

"We do not have adequate forces to carry out our missions in the Pacific if the operations in Central Command continue at their ... current pace," Blair said about the effort in Afghanistan to root out Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network, which Washington blames for the Sept. 11 attacks.

The Pacific Command, which covers 43 countries, is helping to train Philippine forces fight the Abu Sayyaf Islamic extremist group, which is blamed for kidnapping and murder and which Washington says has links to al-Qaida.