Diary of a Flying Scotsman

Week ending December 14, 2024

I can imagine few greater responsibilities than those that weigh upon the commander of Indo-Pacific Command, Admiral Sam Paparo, whom I had the privilege of meeting last weekend, when he visited the Hoover Institution.

Paparo took over USINDOPACOM (as the Department of Defense inelegantly calls it) in May. A graduate of the Navy Fighter Weapons School, he flew F-15s on exchange with U.S. Air Force—in other words, think Top Gun. He previously commanded the 5th Fleet, headquartered in Bahrain, and the Pacific Fleet.

Despite the Italian surname, Paparo is recognizably a Scots-Irish-American whose family crossed the Atlantic to Pennsylvania just a century ago. Like those with similar heritage, he understands instinctively as well as intellectually the meaning of deterrence—and the crucial need to deter China.