Marine Corps Cyberspace Operations: The Need for Change

Abstract

In order to optimize USMC cyberspace capabilities and capacity developments, the Marine Corps must advocate paradigm change, revise current doctrine, restructure its cyber forces, and reform current training models. The DoD's doctrinal acceptance of cyberspace as the fifth warfighting domain, influenced the Marine Corps' dogmatic approach towards capabilities development which led it to inneffectively obligate equities to all three sub-functions of cyberspace operations. The Marine Corps should consider cyberspace in relation to the larger information environment (IE) framework in order to better synchronize cyberspace operations and information operations. It can do so through a few near- and mid-term practical steps with regards to doctrine, training, and organization. Articulating cyberspace's relationship within the IE, will result in more practically organized MAGTF cyberspace forces, more proficient practitioners, and better integrated cyberspace operations as important paris of information operations. These results optimize the capability and capacity of Marine Corps cyberspace forces and posture the service to counter the most probable future security threats.