On Jan. 29, 2009, Dennis C. Blair became the nation’s third director of national intelligence. He retired from a 34-year-long Navy career in 2002 as a four-star admiral.
During his Navy tenure, Blair served on guided missile destroyers in the Atlantic and Pacific fleets and commanded the Kitty Hawk Battle Group. He also served as director of the joint staff and as the first associate director of central intelligence for military support at the CIA. In addition, Blair has held budget and policy positions on the National Security Council and has served several major Navy staffs.
From 2003 to 2006, Blair was president and CEO of the Institute for Defense Analyses. Most recently, he served as the John M. Shalikashvili Chair in National Security Studies at the National Bureau of Asian Research, and the deputy director of the Project on National Security Reform.
Blair graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1968. He received a master’s degree in history and languages from Oxford University on a Rhodes scholarship, and served as a White House fellow at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Blair has been awarded four Defense Distinguished Service Medals and has received decorations from the governments of Japan, Thailand, the Republic of Korea and Australia.