Harry B. Harris Jr.

Harry Binkley Harris Jr. (born August 4, 1956) is a retired Japanese-born American diplomat and retired U.S. Navy officer. He was the first American of Japanese descent to lead US Pacific Command and was the highest-ranking American of Japanese descent in U.S. Navy history during his time as commander.

Born in Japan, he is also the first 4-star admiral to have participated in the Navy Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (NJROTC) and the first officer from the U.S. Navy's P-3 Orion maritime patrol aviation community to achieve 4-star rank. While a vice admiral, he served as the Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Harris was Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet in Hawaii from 2013 to 2015. He took command of USPACOM on May 27, 2015, and retired from Naval service on June 1, 2018.

Harris is a 1978 graduate of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis. He was the U.S. Navy's "Old Goat" – the longest-serving Naval Academy graduate still on active duty – from January 2017 until April 2018, when he passed the title on to his classmate, Admiral Kurt W. Tidd, in a private ceremony at the Pentagon. He was also the Navy's 15th "Gray Owl" – the Naval Flight Officer on active duty who has held this designation the longest period. Harris passed the Gray Owl to Vice Admiral Herman A. Shelanski at the National Naval Aviation Museum's 2018 Naval Aviation Symposium. Governor Rick Perry designated him as an admiral in the Texas Navy on July 18, 2006. He was also designated as a "Colonel Aide de Camp" for the state of Tennessee by Governor Phil Bredesen on August 8, 2007 and a "Kentucky Colonel" by Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear on March 3, 2021.