U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates yesterday recommended Adm. Timothy J. Keating to head U.S. Pacific Command based at Camp Smith, continuing a 60-year tradition of naming Navy admirals to the post.

Keating, who heads Colorado-based Northern Command, would replace Adm. William J. Fallon. Fallon has been at the helm of Pacific Command for just under two years, and is expected to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate to lead U.S. Central Command and oversee the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Gates noted that Keating commanded a carrier group based in Japan, and later the Navy's 5th Fleet during Operation Iraqi Freedom. After serving as director of the Joint Staff, Keating became commander of Northern Command, where he oversaw the active-duty military's response to Hurricane Katrina, he said.

The defense secretary said he also recommended to the president Air Force Lt. Gen. Gene Renuart, Gates' senior military assistant, to be the head of Northern Command.

"Each of these fine officers has established a record of accomplishment in a variety of complex and challenging assignments," Gates said. "Each has shown the requisite combination of military, diplomatic and intellectual skills to be successful in these two positions."

If confirmed by the Senate, Keating would take over the Pentagon's largest global command as China undergoes a worrisome military expansion, North Korea has successfully tested a nuclear device, and the spread of Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism in the Pacific remains a concern.

The Pacific Command, headquartered in Hawai'i, covers more than half the globe from the west coast of the United States to the east coast of Africa, including the Pacific and Indian oceans.

Keating's recommendation comes as the Pentagon plans to shift more military assets including submarines, ships and aircraft to the Pacific.

Fallon, the current Pacific commander, was lauded for his efforts at military rapprochement with China. He visited the country three times.

ACCOLADES

Retired Adm. R.J. "Zap" Zlatoper, who headed U.S. Pacific Fleet from 1994-96 and lives in Hawai'i, said the command and region will be in good hands with Keating. Zlatoper has known Keating since the late 1980s, when Keating worked for him in Washington assigning aviation officers. "He was obviously then a rising star," Zlatoper said.

"He brings operational experience because he's been deployed to the region, and he knows the area," Zlatoper said, adding that with Keating's joint staff experience and diplomacy skills, "he's an ideal selection for the job. I can't be more emphatic about that."

Keating has more than 5,000 flight hours and 1,200 aircraft carrier landings.

Zlatoper said he remembers how unflappable Keating was when someone would come up to him "and the standard phrase was people's hair would be on fire, and he was always the guy who would sort of calmly put his arm out and say, 'We can handle that.' "

Keating's wife is Wanda Lee, and according to a past Navy report, his son had flown F/A-18 jets with the Blue Angels, and a daughter was a registered nurse.

U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawai'i, yesterday said "even a glance at his background shows how well versed (Keating) is in everything that he needs to know and have experience in for this position, from a military point of view."

"I'm glad we now have an admiral dealing with the ocean — as opposed to this Northern Command idea, which I've always been opposed to," he said.

Northern Command was established on Oct. 1, 2002, to provide command and control of Defense Department homeland defense efforts and to coordinate defense support of civil authorities.

Keating also commands the North American Aerospace Defense Command. An official at the Colorado-based commands said Keating did not issue a statement in response to Gates' recommendation.

CONCERNS WITH CHINA

Keating recently criticized China's test of an anti-satellite weapon after a Chinese military officer said the hope was to keep space a "peaceful place," but predicted space would become weaponized.

"This isn't the act of a country who remains fiercely committed to peace and harmony in the world," the Associated Press reported Keating as saying. "This is a cause for concern. ... In executing this test, they have created potential significant problems for international space flight."

Loren Thompson, a defense analyst with the Lexington Institute, said the selection of Keating "begins to clarify what the future joint leadership of the Pentagon will look like during the final two years of the Bush administration."

U.S. Pacific Command, a joint services command, has been led by a Navy admiral for 60 years. Fallon, who is expected to be confirmed for the U.S. Central Command position, would be the first admiral in charge of that command in its 24-year history.

With other top jobs, the Navy is dominating joint command positions, Thompson said.

Lawrence Korb, a defense analyst with the Center for American Progress and a former assistant secretary of defense, said the president's hope to contain Iran with a stepped-up U.S. presence in the Persian Gulf and a planned-for surge of 21,500 extra troops in Iraq have played into Fallon's selection.

While the other services put forward candidates for Central Command, there were no vociferous complaints with Fallon's selection.

"While the Navy could get (Central Command), there was no way anybody was going to take (Pacific Command) from them," Korb said. "I think Gates wanted to go with Fallon because he wants to send a message to Iran. Plus, I think it was also the Army guys and Marines are not happy with the surge."

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com.