This United States Marine Corps USMC manual, Marine Corps Doctrine Publication 8 Information June 2022, uses a series of vignettes to illustrate the enduring theory and principles that make up our newest warfighting function. Enclosed vignettes may use current events to highlight important ideas and provide current context with the expectation that future changes may be required as the events unfold and draw to a conclusion. While our theory and principles of the information warfighting function will endure, we must continually examine and adapt our application of them to keep up with the ever-changing characteristics of the information environment.
Information is the foundation of all human interaction. It is the basis for how we sense, make sense of, and interact with our environments and each other. Rapidly evolving modern technologies have accelerated and expanded our ability to process, store, and communicate information with a tempo and scale previously unimaginable. Our globally interconnected world has deepened our collective dependence on information to the extent that the slightest vulnerability in how we handle, store, or transmit information could endanger Marines, their families, and all that we have sworn to defend. In a contest between hostile and irreconcilable wills, information is as powerful a tool as any weapon system in our military arsenal. Therefore, it is vital to the future of our Corps.