Amaa’n
THINK TANK: CONSULTANT
- Aug 19, 2012
- 10,737
- 22,657
- Country of Origin
- Country of Residence
Author notes: As a student of Open-Source Intelligence, I've not only learned various techniques for extracting information from publicly available resources over the last few years but also supported the growth of a few others. I believe that OSINT is the need of today and tomorrow and must be incorporated into our security apparatus. Today, I see many handles/accounts on social media reporting various levels of information under the tag of "OSINT," but in reality, it is merely a report or news clipping. With this, I aim to explain what Open-Source Intelligence is. If I can garner enough interest from this group, I may come up with a second piece of writing. I am also open to running a workshop for a closed group.
History of Open-Source Intelligence
History of open source intelligence dates back to Second World War, where agents of British intelligence were gathering and reviewing the news paper clippings, looking for photos, anything which could help identify the enemy. BBC Monitoring Service and Foreign Broadcast Monitoring service was set up to listen in on the radio broadcasts of the enemy forces(Klock, 2023).
At the height of the Second World War the BBC Monitoring Service was sending 30,000 words of ‘flash messages’ a day to government departments and the BBC Newsroom (Webb, n.d). It allowed the British policy makers to make informed decisions as they would know what the other country was thinking: “ both in broadcasting in the public sense and radio transmission in the more secret sense” (Whitley, 1977).
What is Open-Source Intelligence
OSINT is defined under U.S Code Title 50 as “… intelligence that is produced from publicly available information and is collected, exploited, and disseminated in a timely manner to an appropriate audience for the purpose of addressing a specific intelligence requirement.
The concluding aspect of the OSINT definition underscores the necessity for addressing a particular intelligence requirement. This addresses concerns raised by experts questioning whether a diplomat merely reading a news clipping qualifies as OSINT.Scholars and practitioners in fields such as intelligence studies, international relations, security studies, and information science may study OSINT methods and applications, exploring its role in decision-making, risk assessment, and understanding complex situations.
Levels of OSINT
According to the NATO Open Source Intelligence Handbook, November 2001, there are four distinct categories of open source information and intelligence:[7]
The Intelligence Cycle
According to US Army standard ATP 2-22.9 (2012), the open source intelligence process involves four primary steps (plan, prepare, collect, and produce) and four ongoing activities (analyze, generate intelligence knowledge, assess, and disseminate). These steps and activities, akin to the operational process (plan, prepare, execute, and assess), overlap and repeat based on mission requirements. The continuous activities persist throughout the intelligence process and are shaped by the commander's guidance. The combination of these ongoing activities and the commander's input drives and shapes the intelligence process, offering a shared framework for intelligence professionals to guide their deliberations, plans, and assessments. This process yields knowledge and products related to the threat, terrain, weather, and civil considerations. OSINT plays a crucial role in enhancing and supporting the intelligence process, aligning with the principles outlined in FM 2-0. It facilitates the systematic execution of Army OSINT exploitation and fosters integration with diverse organizations, including joint, interagency, intergovernmental, and multinational entities.
Furthermore, NATO handbook outlines the process cycle from open source data to Validated OSINT:
To conclude, recognizing OSINT as a crucial element for today and tomorrow's security needs, I advocate for its integration into our security apparatus. However, amidst the surge of social media accounts labeled as "OSINT" that often merely provide news clippings, it becomes imperative to clarify the essence of true OSINT.
Understanding the OSINT process cycle, as outlined in the NATO handbook and US Army standards, illuminates the meticulous steps involved from planning and collection to analysis, dissemination, and feedback. This cycle ensures a continuous refinement of the intelligence process, aiming for more accurate, relevant, and timely assessments. With the convergence of historical insights, definitions, and process cycles, the overarching message is clear: OSINT is not just a buzzword but a dynamic and essential tool in contemporary intelligence landscapes.
History of Open-Source Intelligence
History of open source intelligence dates back to Second World War, where agents of British intelligence were gathering and reviewing the news paper clippings, looking for photos, anything which could help identify the enemy. BBC Monitoring Service and Foreign Broadcast Monitoring service was set up to listen in on the radio broadcasts of the enemy forces(Klock, 2023).
At the height of the Second World War the BBC Monitoring Service was sending 30,000 words of ‘flash messages’ a day to government departments and the BBC Newsroom (Webb, n.d). It allowed the British policy makers to make informed decisions as they would know what the other country was thinking: “ both in broadcasting in the public sense and radio transmission in the more secret sense” (Whitley, 1977).
What is Open-Source Intelligence
OSINT is defined under U.S Code Title 50 as “… intelligence that is produced from publicly available information and is collected, exploited, and disseminated in a timely manner to an appropriate audience for the purpose of addressing a specific intelligence requirement.
The concluding aspect of the OSINT definition underscores the necessity for addressing a particular intelligence requirement. This addresses concerns raised by experts questioning whether a diplomat merely reading a news clipping qualifies as OSINT.Scholars and practitioners in fields such as intelligence studies, international relations, security studies, and information science may study OSINT methods and applications, exploring its role in decision-making, risk assessment, and understanding complex situations.
Levels of OSINT
According to the NATO Open Source Intelligence Handbook, November 2001, there are four distinct categories of open source information and intelligence:[7]
- Open Source Data (OSD): The raw print, broadcast, oral debriefing, or other form of information from a primary source. It can be a photograph, a tape recording, a commercial satellite image, or a personal letter from an individual. This is considered raw data until it goes through a conversion process to create a coherent product, i.e. validated OSINT.
- Open Source Information (OSI): This is comprised of the raw data that can be put together, generally by an editorial process that provides some filtering and validation as well as presentation management. OSI is generic information that is usually widely disseminated. Newspapers, books, broadcasts, and general daily reports are part of the OSI world. This is what we mostly see social media accounts indulged in today’s date and time
- Open Source Intelligence (OSINT): Information that has been deliberately discovered, discriminated, distilled, and disseminated to a select audience in order to address a specific question. OSINT, in other words, applies the proven process of intelligence to the broad diversity of open sources of information, and creates intelligence.
- Validated OSINT (OSINT-V): Information to which a very high degree of certainty can be attributed. It can only be produced by an all source intelligence professional, with access to classified intelligence sources, whether working for a nation or for a coalition staff. It can also come from an assured open source to which no question can be raised concerning its validity.
The Intelligence Cycle
According to US Army standard ATP 2-22.9 (2012), the open source intelligence process involves four primary steps (plan, prepare, collect, and produce) and four ongoing activities (analyze, generate intelligence knowledge, assess, and disseminate). These steps and activities, akin to the operational process (plan, prepare, execute, and assess), overlap and repeat based on mission requirements. The continuous activities persist throughout the intelligence process and are shaped by the commander's guidance. The combination of these ongoing activities and the commander's input drives and shapes the intelligence process, offering a shared framework for intelligence professionals to guide their deliberations, plans, and assessments. This process yields knowledge and products related to the threat, terrain, weather, and civil considerations. OSINT plays a crucial role in enhancing and supporting the intelligence process, aligning with the principles outlined in FM 2-0. It facilitates the systematic execution of Army OSINT exploitation and fosters integration with diverse organizations, including joint, interagency, intergovernmental, and multinational entities.
Furthermore, NATO handbook outlines the process cycle from open source data to Validated OSINT:
- Planning: Managing the setup of the research, from identifying the need for data to delivering the final work product. It constitutes the starting and end of the cycle. It starts with drawing up detailed collection requirements and ends with finished intelligence, which needs to be compared against the initial requirements potentially generating new requirements and starting the cycle again. This phase desires constant stakeholder management beginning with initiating requests for intelligence, a feedback loop and readjustment of requirements based on result from intelligence gathering.
- Collection: The gathering of raw data needed to produce OSINT. Major sources for internal investigation are e.g. company databases, company registries, media resources such as foreign broadcasts, newspapers, periodicals and books, or social media.
- Processing: This is narrowing the enormous amount of information collected down to the data necessary to fulfill the collection requirements. That can include decrypting it, translating it from a foreign language, or sorting data based on relevance or reliability.
- Analysis and production: The processed data must then be put into context of the collection requirements. This can include analysing contradictory, inconclusive or insufficient data, to come to reliable conclusions and assessments of the data for decision makers. This stage desires experienced analysts and can be described as ‘the art of research.’
- Dissemination: The finished product needs to be delivered to the persons who commissioned the cycle in the first place.
- Feedback: Finally, decision makers will come to conclusions based on the report and will decide on issuing new directions to gather further intelligence. The process is refined with the aim of producing more accurate, relevant and timely assessments based on the success of previous intelligence.
To conclude, recognizing OSINT as a crucial element for today and tomorrow's security needs, I advocate for its integration into our security apparatus. However, amidst the surge of social media accounts labeled as "OSINT" that often merely provide news clippings, it becomes imperative to clarify the essence of true OSINT.
Understanding the OSINT process cycle, as outlined in the NATO handbook and US Army standards, illuminates the meticulous steps involved from planning and collection to analysis, dissemination, and feedback. This cycle ensures a continuous refinement of the intelligence process, aiming for more accurate, relevant, and timely assessments. With the convergence of historical insights, definitions, and process cycles, the overarching message is clear: OSINT is not just a buzzword but a dynamic and essential tool in contemporary intelligence landscapes.
