CAMP H. M. SMITH, Hawaii -- Admiral Timothy J. Keating, former commander of U.S. Northern Command, assumed command of U.S. Pacific Command in a ceremony here today.

Admiral Keating assumed command from Lt. Gen. Daniel P. Leaf, deputy commander of PACOM, who served as acting commander after the departure of Admiral William J. Fallon March 12 to U.S. Central Command.

Admiral Keating, a native of Dayton, Ohio, who graduated the Naval Academy in 1971, has served numerous tours in the Pacific. As the largest geographical command in the Department of Defense, PACOM encompasses 43 countries bordered by two oceans, encompassing an area that covers over 100 million square miles from the West Coast of the United States to the East Coast of Africa.