Dennis Blair
Dennis Blair (1947-) is Director of National Intelligence for the United States, retiring as an admiral in the United States Navy. Before his appointment, he served as the John M. Shalikashvili Chair in National Security Studies at the National Bureau of Asian Research, and the Deputy Executive Director of the Project for National Security Reform. He had been president of the Institute for Defense Analyses from 2003-2006.
He was co-chair of the Council on Foreign Relations task force that wrote U.S.-China Relations: An Affirmative Agenda, A Responsible Course.
He headed the United States Pacific Command, and was, earlier, Associate Director of Military Support at the Central Intelligence Agency. He was Director of the Joint Staff and commanded a Carrier Strike Group.
While commanding the Adams-class destroyer USS Cochrane' (DDG-21), he was remembered as the first captain to water-ski behind his ship.
He was a White House Fellow at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Education
A 1968 graduate of the United States Naval Academy, he was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University with Bill Clinton, earning a master's degree in history and languages.