Navy Adm. Tim Keating retired from military service in December 2009, when he completed a three-year term as commander of the Honolulu-based U.S. Pacific Command.
As Paccom lead, he was responsible for a geographic area comprised of nearly 3.4 billion people and half the surface of the earth. He visited more 30 countries, met diplomats, military officials and commercial leaders to promote engagement with national and international partners in the Asia-Pacific region.
Prior to leading Paccom, the 38-year veteran served as commander of both Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado. As Northcom lead, he was responsible for helping protect the U.S. and providing support to federal, state and local officials during crises.
NORAD is responsible for providing aerospace warning, air sovereignty and defense to the U.S. and Canada.
Previous assignments include director of the Joint Staff in the Pentagon; command of the U.S. Fifth Fleet and all naval forces in the Bahrain-based U.S. Central Command; deputy chief of naval operations for plans, policy and operations; command of the USS Kitty Hawk Battle Group stationed in Japan; and deputy director for operations-current operations in the Joint Staff.
Keating has also held command positions at the Naval Strike Warfare Center, a carrier air and an F-18 squadron.
He graduated from the Naval Academy in 1971 and was a Chief of Naval Operations Fellow with the Strategic Studies Group in Newport, R.I. He has accumulated more than 5,000 hours of flight time in tactical jets and has landed on Navy aircraft carriers more than 1,200 times.
Along with the U.S., he has received decorations from the U.K., Bahrain, Canada, Japan, South Korea, the Phillipines, Taiwan and Singapore.
Keating is a member of the Naval Postgraduate School Board of Advisors, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Navy-Marine Association, is a Trustee for the Naval Aviation Museum, serves on the Virginia Commision for Military and National Security Affairs, the Secretary of the Navy Advisory Panel and is an international strategic adviser for several corporations.
