Admiral and head of America's Indo-Pacific Command, based in Honolulu. Admiral Paparo quietly helped resolve the Thailand-Cambodia border conflict by making multiple visits to Malaysia to meet both countries' military chiefs, enabling Donald Trump to claim credit and preside over a peace-deal signing.
He 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 Mr 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."
Economists can certainly disappoint you. One said that the economy would turn up by the last quarter. Well, I'm down to mine and it hasn't.