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Obama mulling Blair appointment

US president-elect Barack Obama is seriously considering retired Navy admiral Dennis Blair — an expert on Taiwanese defense issues — to be his first director of national intelligence.

The New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and CNN have all reported that while a final decision has not yet have been made, Blair, 61, is highly favored for the job.

An announcement is expected before the end of next week.

A retired four-star admiral, Blair headed the US Pacific Command from 1999 to 2002 and for at least five years was the head of US official delegations that observed Taiwan’s annual Han Kuang military exercises.

During this period he was regarded as one of the most respected advisers to the Taiwanese military and the Ministry of National Defense.

If he gets the job as expected, his first assignment will be to pull the US’ 16 disparate intelligence agencies into an effective whole. The Washington Post said on Wednesday that they are seen by the incoming administration to be plagued by “overlapping responsibilities, bureaucratic rivalries and poor information-sharing.”

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence was created four years ago to establish a clear chain of command and control over the US intelligence community’s budget, which currently stands at US$47.5 billion.

It involves enormous power and would make Blair a direct adviser to Obama in the case of military problems in the Taiwan Strait.

“This is a guy who cares about Taiwan and it would be good news for Taiwan if he won the nomination,” said a senior US intelligence source, who asked not to be named for security reasons.

Last year, Blair called for increased US-Chinese military dialogue to include Taiwan as a way to ease tensions in the Taiwan Strait.

When asked during a press conference if the US was really committed to helping Taiwan in the case of an attack by China, he replied: “The US should have a ‘dual assurance, dual deterrence’ policy in which we let the Chinese know clearly that a peaceful solution to the Taiwan issue is what the United States will support and that it will use force if necessary to carry out its obligations.”

But he stressed that, at the same time, he would “tell the Taiwanese that moves toward independence are not supported by the United States and will not be supported necessarily by force.”

Under the Taiwan Relations Act, Washington is committed to supply Taiwan with sufficient defensive weapons, while maintaining a readiness to counter any attempt by the Chinese military to resolve the issue by force.

The Wall Street Journal said earlier this week that Obama had been impressed by Blair’s reputation as a strong manager.

“Choosing Admiral Blair may reignite long-simmering tensions between military and civilian intelligence officials, who are wary of what they see as the creeping militarization of the nation’s intelligence services,” the Journal reported.

“Still, Admiral Blair is free of any association with two of the intelligence community’s most controversial issues: The CIA’s harsh interrogations of terrorism suspects and the National Security Agency’s warrantless wiretapping program,” it said.

In an interview last year, Blair was asked if China’s missile program was approaching a stage where it could affect deterrence with respect to Taiwan.

“China certainly is increasing its ability to cause damage to Taiwan … But in terms of being able to disarm Taiwan with a missile strike and then walk in and take over the country, China is nowhere close to that capability,” he replied.
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