An Admiral on Alert.(U.S. Pacific Fleet Admiral Dennis Blair)(Brief Article)

As Commander in Chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, Adm. Dennis Blair oversees an area that stretches from Hawaii to Afghanistan. Last week in Washington, in a wide-ranging interview, Blair said he believed that the United States should have gone on the offensive against Al Qaeda four to five years ago. Now he's worried not only about Al Qaeda terrorists but also about the prospect of a nuclear war between India and Pakistan. NEWSWEEK's Lally Weymouth talked with Blair. Excerpts:

WEYMOUTH: Is the U.S. getting bogged down in Afghanistan?

BLAIR: Before [September 11], we knew terrorists were out there, but our reaction was primarily defensive--more guards and that kind of thing. The big change after September 11 was to go after terrorists. In my part of the world, what we needed to do varied country by country. Singapore and Malaysia were willing to take action. In the Philippines, President Gloria Arroyo stood strong against terrorist groups like Abu Sayyaf but needed some help, so we are helping.

How do you see the fight against terrorism in Indonesia?

I don't think Indonesia has been as aggressive as have the other countries in the region... We don't have the leverage of links that we had in the past to the Indonesian Army. And [for Indonesia's political leaders] there are not a lot of political points to be made by going after Muslim groups.

Some allege that the administration and the intelligence community should have been able to predict and stop the September 11 attack. What do you think?

We didn't connect the dots. We thought the war was against overseas military and diplomatic missions, and we could keep it at that level. It was an understandable decision but it turned out to be wrong. There was Khobar Towers; then the Nairobi suicide bombers [hit the U.S. Embassy in Kenya]; the USS Cole was hit by suiciders in a boat. They were ratcheting up their attacks. If we had taken those lines and looked at them, we should have started four to five years ago [to fight terrorism].