At our Nov. 2015 meeting our guest was Col. Lapthe Flora (bio below), brigade commander of the 91st Troop Command. He shared his experience dealing with the advance persistent threat represented by outside actors. He talked about some of the steps DoD is taking for prevention, how cyber warfare is moving out of the realm of science fiction and becoming a real threat and weapon, and current need for DoD to develop talent.

Col. Flora’s Bio:
Col. Lapthe Flora is currently the brigade commander of the 91st Troop Command, headquartered at Bowling Green, Va. Col. Flora’s command includes the Petersburg-based 276th Engineer Battalion, the Sandston-based 2nd Battalion, 224th Aviation Regiment, the Fairfax-based Data Processing Unit, the Norfolk-based Joint National Guard Augmentation Unit and the Fairfax-based Information Operations Support Center.

Flora started his military career in 1988 in the Virginia National Guard after graduating from the Virginia Military Institute and has since served in every staff position within 1st Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment, 116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, including as commander of that battalion. Additionally, Flora served as the 116th IBCT executive officer, 29th Infantry Division’s director of operations and most recently as the Joint Force Headquarters – Virginia director of strategic plans. He has successfully completed three overseas deployments to Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan.

In his civilian capacity, Flora is the Senior Applications Engineer with Harris Night Vision & Communications Solutions in Roanoke, Va., and holds six patent awards related to the AN/PVS-14 and AN/AVS-9 night goggles.