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- Born: February 4, 1947
- Birth place: Kittery, Maine
- Director of national intelligence under the Obama Administration
- Confirmation hearing occurred January 22, 2009
- Confirmed on January 28, 2009
- Served in the U.S. Navy for 34 years, retired as four-star admiral
- Retired from the Navy in 2002
- Led United States Pacific Command
- Was CIA's first associate director of military supportThe New York Times: The New Team: Dennis Blair
- Served as the director of the Joint Staff at the PentagonThe New York Times: The New Team: Dennis Blair
- Was a Rhodes scholar at Oxford with Bill ClintonThe New York Times: The New Team: Dennis Blair
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On January 28, 2009, the U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed four-star Admiral Dennis C. Blair as the director of national intelligence under President Barack Obama's administration.CNN: Senate confirms Blair as director of national intelligence (January 28, 2009) Previous to his appointment, Blair served in the U.S. Navy for 34 years, during which he commanded the United States Pacific Command. Blair also served as the CIA's first associate director of military support and chief of the Joint Staff at the Pentagon.
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Confirmation Hearings
Blair's confirmation hearing occurred January 22, 2009. During the hearing, Blair was pressured by Senator Carl Levin to definitively say whether waterboarding was torture. Although Blair stated that neither waterboarding nor torture would be used during his tenure, he refused to state that waterboarding was torture. Blair stated that part of his hesitation was to avoid prosecution of lower-ranking Bush Administration officials who may have used the practice believing that it was legal. It is uncertain if individuals who participated in waterboarding or harsh interrogation tactics will be prosecuted in the Obama Administration.Reuters: Obama spy choice won't call waterboarding torture (January 22, 2009)Career Controversy
Blair stepped down as president of the Institute for Defense Analyses when concerns arose that his seating on other corporate boards posed a conflict of interest. While the Pentagon's inspector general later concluded that Blair had violated the Institute's conflict of interest regulations by serving on the board of a military contractor working on the F-22 jet while the Pentagon was inspecting the program, it was also concluded that Blair's seating had not influenced the Pentagon's final decision of the F-22 program.
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