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Overview ofOpen Source Intelligence

Robert D. Steele, OSS CEO<bear@oss.net>

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What’s on the other side of the hill?

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All the business of war, and indeed all the business of life, is to endeavor to find out what you don’t know by what you do; that’s what I called “guessing what was at the other side of the hill”.

Duke of Wellington quoted in John Wilson Croker, The Croker Papers (1884)

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BURUNDI EXERCISE: 6 Phone Calls

Top Ten Journalists/Top Ten Academics

Tribal Orders of Battle and AOs

Pol-Mil Overviews

Soviet 1:100,000 Combat Charts

100% Commercial Imagery <3 Years Old

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THOUGHTFUL OPINIONS“The Intelligence Community has to get used to the fact

that it no longer controls most of the information.”The Honorable Richard Kerr, former Deputy Director of Central Intelligence

“…(IC) should not satisfy requests for analysis when such analysis could be readily accomplished using publicly available sources…

Aspin-Brown Commission on Intelligence, page 17

You’re on your own!

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OSINT DEFINITIONS

Open Source Data

Open Source Information

Open Source Intelligence

Validated Open Source Intelligence

Only the in-house analyst can do this.

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“…nothing more than a collection of news clippings”.

“…the Internet.”

“…a substitute for spies and satellites.”

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WHAT OSINT IS NOT...

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Commercial Online

Books & Journals

Conferences & Dissertations

Maps & Commercial

Imagery

Internet

Telephone Surveys

Gray Literature

Complex Human &

IT Services

OSINT Universe

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Government Information

Information Brokers &

Private Investigators

Schools & Universities

Public & Special

Libraries

WWW Virtual Library

Business Information

Intelligence Communities

OSINT Islands

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Niche & Mass Media

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OSINT IS A PROCESSDISCOVERY--Know Who Knows

Just enough from just the right mix of sources

DISCRIMINATION--Know What’s WhatRapid source evaluation and data validation

DISTILLATION--Know What’s HotAnswer the right question, in the right way

DELIVERY--Know Who’s WhoIt’s not delivered until right person understands

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PRODUCTIONTOOLKIT

Q ADIRECT ACCESS

TOOLKIT

MEDIATED ACCESS TOOLKIT

Internet Stream

Offline Stream

Human Experts“Temp Hire” Approach:

World Class/One Day Only PROCESSINGTOOLKIT

INTEGRATED ONE-STOP SHOPPING PROCESS Call Center -- Multi-Level Security -- Umbrella for Unified Billing

Commercial Feeds

Maps & Images

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Feedback Loop

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REPRESENTATIVE PRODUCTS

Ground Reconnaissance (Legal Travelers)

Mission Rehearsal, Precision Targeting

Subject-Matter Experts on Demand

Rapid Response Collection & Analysis

Recurring OSINT Briefs, Biographics

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OSINT ISSUE AREAS

Operational Security

Copyright Compliance

Foreign Language Coverage

Source Validation

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OSINT UTILITY

Tip-Off/Warning

Context

Collection Management

Cover/Information-Sharing

Within Own Force

With Civil/NGO/Coalition

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OSINT “RULES OF THE GAME”

80% of what you need is not online• 50% of that has not been published at all

60% of what you need is not in English

90% of the maps you need do not exist• but commercial imagery can address overnight

90% of the information is in private sector• must leverage distributed private knowledge

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OSINT SUPPORT TO THE A TEAM

Strategic Planning

Operational Coordination

Tactical Employment

Acquisition Design

• History

• Context

• Current Awareness

• Key Personalities/Motivators

• Imagery & Image Maps

• Translation Support

• Strategic Generalizations

• Critical Technologies

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REQUIREMENTS OFFICER/ COLLECTION MANAGER

INTERNET SPECIALIST

COMMERCIAL ONLINE SPECIALIST

PRIMARY RESEARCH SPECIALIST

EXTERNAL SERVICESSPECIALIST

EDITOR/ANALYSTPRESENTATION MANAGER

Leverage!!!

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FUSION

ANALYSIS

FILTERS

UN

IOs

NGOs

Business Community

Predictive Modeling

Internet

JTF

Embassy Host &

Adjacent Govts

Remote Sensing

®PACOM’S Virtual Information Center

J-8’s Idea!

INFORMATION UNIVERSERelevant and Irrelevant -- Open and Secret

Decision-MakerIntegration, Reflection & Decision

RANDOM

SECRET

EXISTING INPUT

normal staff process,

counterparts, family/friends

OPEN SOURCEINPUT

Internet &private sector fee-for-service

Information Management StaffCollection Management, Fusion, Analysis & Presentation

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And now for some specific sources,

software and services….