Admiral and head of America's Indo-Pacific Command, based in Honolulu. Paparo quietly helped resolve the Thailand-Cambodia border conflict in July 2025 by making multiple visits to Malaysia to meet both countries' military chiefs, enabling Trump to claim credit and preside over a peace-deal signing in October 2025.
Paparo faces three challenges: reassuring Asian allies of America's commitment while the Trump administration focuses on Venezuela, Greenland and a possible grand bargain with China; keeping onside with Trump and Pete Hegseth as the administration prioritises the Americas over Asia in its national defence strategy; and keeping war plans current as China rapidly modernises. He is focused on making his command AI-enabled, experimenting with faster decision-making tools, and catching up with China on long-range missiles and autonomous weapons. A fellow admiral says: "He goes to sleep every night thinking about winning or losing the next great war."
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