BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Dennis Blair, the man who is to become the new U.S. director of national intelligence, distinguished himself as chief of the U.S. military's Pacific Command, an important fact behind his appointment by President-elect Barack Obama. He will oversee all U.S. intelligence organizations.

The admiral, now retired, was the top dog over U.S. military forces in the Asia-Pacific from February 1999 to May 2002. He did very well. There are about a dozen major worries in the position, with China being roughly Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4. India, Pakistan, North Korea and others are on the worry list, but none can hurt the U.S. as much as China.

In April 2001 Blair and the U.S. government was hit with the notorious EP3 spy-plane crisis. A scrambling Chinese fighter flew too close to a lumbering U.S. surveillance plane hovering off China's coast, clipped its wings (presumably accidentally), and went down. The Chinese pilot's body was never recovered. When the U.S. crew somehow made a "Mayday" landing at a Hainan Island military airfield, the Chinese made a big propaganda deal of the incident. The U.S. crew was not immediately released.