Thibodaux Rotary Club – Lieutenant Colonel Chris D. Landry
September 11, 2012
By: Luci Sposito
Lieutenant Colonel Chris D. Landry is a native of Thibodaux, a 1980 E.D. White Catholic High School graduate, earned his BA from Nicholls State University in 1985, and later earned a Masters from Marine Corps University. He assumed his most recent assignment as the Deputy Operations and Plans Officer, G-3/5, Headquarters, Marine Forces Reserve in July 2011. He supervises the operational planning and employment of over 39,000 Marine Reserves to meet global demands.
Lieutenant Colonel Landry discussed the emerging security environment along with the sources of stress that are competing for resources including natural disasters, social unrest, hostile cyber activity, violent extremism (criminal, terrorist, religious), regional conflict, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and advanced weaponry in the hands of the irresponsible.
Statistics illustrate:
-70% of the world is water
-95% of international communications travels via underwater cables
-21 of the world’s 28 mega-cities are within 62 mi/100 km of the sea
-50% of the world’s population lives within 62 mi/100 km of a coast
-49% of the world’s oil travels through 7 major sea chokepoints
-42,000 trading ships are underway daily
-95% of the world’s commerce moves by sea
-95% of all commercial cargo travels through the littorals
According to Lieutenant Colonel Landry, a few of the matters worth considering are:
-China and the US are inextricably linked
-U.S. Military posture must be geographically distributed, operationally resilient, and politically sustainable
-U.S. must develop allies and coalitions
-Cyber security is critical to military operations and defense of homeland
He also discussed the pivotal role of the Asia-Pacific
-Twelve of the top 15 U.S. trading partners (import/export) are in Asia-Pacific
-From 2001-2010, approximately 70,000 people a year were killed in the Asia Pacific region due to natural disasters, resulting in -65% of world’s total death from such causes and approximately $35 billion of economic damage per year.
-Thirteen of the fifteen Megacities in the Asia-Pacific are within 100 km of the sea
-Fifteen of the world’s twenty-eight Megacities are in the Asia Pacific region
-Asia Pacific region contains 61% of the world population
-U.S. maintains five security treaties in the Asia-Pacific region
Lieutenant Colonel Landry discussed his experiences in Iraq and stated, “…I believe the military and all forms of government are strong… we are in good hands with those men and women in combat… they are doing an incredible job.”
He answered questions posed by the audience and stated that Bin Laden was just one target, but there were many other security issues to contend with regarding the Taliban. When asked about Iran, Lieutenant Colonel Landry stated, “We are keeping a close eye on things and that’s all I really want to say about that.” When asked if Pakistan was a friend or foe, Lieutenant Colonel Landry said, “It is not that simple to define as friend or foe. To be a friend, one has to find mutual goals and that is difficult in Pakistan.”
Finally, Lieutenant Colonel Landry explained that marine recruiting is successful and a recruiting goal has never been missed. His presentation ended with a standing ovation from our members.
