As the Marine Corps’ Marine Expeditionary Forces Information Group – MEF Information Group or MIG, is coming online, the service’s chief cyber operations outfit will be offering education to help leaders understand how cyber can be employed into traditional operations.

“Right now we’re, from a cyber perspective, focused on education. As you have the three MIGs, we want to be able to ensure that they understand the cyber capabilities and then the methods of employment and the friendly and adversary [tactics, techniques and procedures],” Gregg Kendrick, executive director of Marine Corps Forces Cyberspace Command told Fifth Domain following his appearance on a panel hosted by AFCEA’s Northern Virginia chapter Oct. 3.

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The MIG seeks to bring cyberspace, electronic warfare, information operations, command and control, and intelligence functions together and integrate them into maneuver forces and the Marine Air Ground Task Force.

Right now, with the new stand up of the deputy commandant for information, a three-star command that will oversee all aspects of information within the service, its leader, Lt. Gen. Daniel O’Donohue, is looking at how to take the MEF Information Group and energize them, Kendrick said.

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“We’re starting on that senior level seminar, if you will, and education side of the house for cyber,” Kendrick added. “You understand the capabilities we have from the defensive, offensive and the maneuver of DoDIN operations and then once you have that education, then we can actually start talking about integration with the rest of the four domains so that we want to make it part of the general purpose force.”

Cyber, electronic warfare, information operations, infantry operations, air operations, they should all be the same, he noted, explaining they can move forward once the education baseline is in place.

Mark Pomerleau is a reporter for C4ISRNET, covering information warfare and cyberspace.

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