United States Marines

2022: Creation of the concept of combat application of information

The United States Marine Corps (USMC) in late June 2022 presented a concept document that aims to illustrate how information and the systems used to transmit it are used in conflicts.

The 126-page document, titled "Doctrine Publication 8 Marine Corps," explains concepts such as "information environment" and "prevailing narratives" as well as how they fit into military objectives. The document indicates that information is a means necessary for conducting hostilities, comparable to any weapons system.

US military presented the concept of combat use of information

By giving information the status of a combat function, we make it an important factor for commanders in the planning process so that there is no situation where the command develops a plan and then engages our information specialists, such as information operations specialists, at the end, to solve emerging problems, "Eric Schaner, USMC senior information policy and strategy analyst, told reporters.

The goal is for the concepts outlined in the doctrinal document to eventually fall into the curricula, be incorporated into the training sessions, and help identify existing gaps in capabilities - especially with respect to command and control systems. In addition, the authors of the initiative want the marines to better learn how competitors, in particular Russia and China, relate to information warfare.

If we see the information environment as a contested space, we need to be able to perceive and master that space. Awareness of the state of hostilities in the information environment is very important, "said Schaner. And the Marine Corps is contributing to the development of the combined force, we must address the shortcomings and address the problem of our command and control architectures and make them as seamless as possible so that we can coordinate across large distributed areas using the combined force in each area.[1]

Notes

2017: Plans to recruit 3,000 cyber warfare experts

The US Marine Corps wants to expand its cyber division by increasing the number of personnel by three thousand people.

Speaking at the US Surface Fleet Association's annual symposium, Corps Commander General Robert Neller announced that he would seek amendments to the military appropriations bill to expand the number of personnel from the current 182,000 to 185,000. At the expense of additional three thousand servicemen, the cyber division of the Corps will be expanded, which now employs only a thousand people - military and civilian specialists.

Now, employees from the intelligence or radio battalion are usually transferred to this unit. But to conduct active hostilities in cyberspace, they have to be retrained. General Neller considers it a more promising option to immediately attract trained specialists with appropriate training.

United States Marines

In the Marine Corps, there is no separate cyber-military specialty related to offensive actions: in other words, the corps lacks those who can carry out cyber attacks on computers and networks of a conditional enemy.

As Neller noted, this means that Marine Corps employees interested in such activities are forced to be transferred to other units of the US Armed Forces.

Well, how do I keep them? We spend a lot of money on training these Marines, "Neller said.

Apparently, the Marines will try to expand their cyber division at the expense of civilian specialists, who often outperform even the most trained army cybersecurity specialists.^[1]

In principle, it has long been clear that the wars of the future will be fought, including in cyberspace. The corresponding units are becoming a separate branch of the troops, "says Georgy Lagoda, technical director of the Security Monitor company. - Therefore, it is not surprising that it is the US Marine Corps that is recruiting cyber attack specialists: the Marines are conducting combined arms operations, and it is obvious that in the framework of military conflicts of the near future they plan to use attacks on enemy networks and will be forced to defend their own.

1965

American Marines landing on the peninsula in Vietnam, 1965.

1950

U.S. Marine soldiers watch napalm bombing of Chinese positions during the Korean War. December 26, 1950.

See also

• Cybercrime in the world
• Cyber attacks
• Cybercrime and cyber conflicts: Russia
• Cybercrime and cyber conflicts: US
• Cybercrime and cyber conflicts: Europe
• Cybercrime and cyber conflicts: China
• Cybercrime and cyber conflicts: Israel
• Cybercrime and cyber conflicts: Iran
• Cyber wars