1 ® Overview of Open Source Intelligence Robert D. Steele, OSS CEO

2 Whats on the other side of the hill? ® All the business of war, and indeed all the business of life, is to endeavor to find out what you dont know by what you do; thats 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)

3 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 ®

4 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 Youre on your own! ®

5 OSINT DEFINITIONS Open Source Data Open Source Information Open Source Intelligence Validated Open Source Intelligence Only the in-house analyst can do this. ®

6 …nothing more than a collection of news clippings. …the Internet. …a substitute for spies and satellites. ® WHAT OSINT IS NOT...

7 Commercial Online Books & Journals Conferences & Dissertations Maps & Commercial Imagery Internet Telephone Surveys Gray Literature Complex Human & IT Services OSINT Universe ®

8 Government Information Information Brokers & Private Investigators Schools & Universities Public & Special Libraries WWW Virtual Library Business Information Intelligence Communities OSINT Islands ® Niche & Mass Media

9 OSINT IS A PROCESS DISCOVERY--Know Who Knows Just enough from just the right mix of sources DISCRIMINATION--Know Whats What Rapid source evaluation and data validation DISTILLATION--Know Whats Hot Answer the right question, in the right way DELIVERY--Know Whos Who Its not delivered until right person understands ®

10 PRODUCTION TOOLKIT QA DIRECT ACCESS TOOLKIT MEDIATED ACCESS TOOLKIT Internet Stream Offline Stream Human Experts Temp Hire Approach: World Class/One Day Only PROCESSING TOOLKIT INTEGRATED ONE-STOP SHOPPING PROCESS Call Center -- Multi-Level Security -- Umbrella for Unified Billing Commercial Feeds Maps & Images ® Feedback Loop

11 REPRESENTATIVE PRODUCTS Ground Reconnaissance (Legal Travelers) Mission Rehearsal, Precision Targeting Subject-Matter Experts on Demand Rapid Response Collection & Analysis Recurring OSINT Briefs, Biographics ®

12 OSINT ISSUE AREAS Operational Security Copyright Compliance Foreign Language Coverage Source Validation ®

13 OSINT UTILITY Tip-Off/Warning Context Collection Management Cover/Information-Sharing Within Own Force With Civil/NGO/Coalition ®

14 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 ®

15 ® 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

16 REQUIREMENTS OFFICER/ COLLECTION MANAGER INTERNET SPECIALIST COMMERCIAL ONLINE SPECIALIST PRIMARY RESEARCH SPECIALIST EXTERNAL SERVICES SPECIALIST EDITOR/ANALYST PRESENTATION MANAGER Leverage!!! ®

FUSIONFUSION ANALYSISANALYSIS FILTERSFILTERS UN IOs NGOs Business Community Predictive Modeling Internet JTF Embassy Host & Adjacent Govts Remote Sensing ® PACOMS Virtual Information Center J-8s Idea!

INFORMATION UNIVERSE Relevant and Irrelevant -- Open and Secret Decision-Maker Integration, Reflection & Decision RANDOMRANDOM SECRETSECRET EXISTING INPUT normal staff process, counterparts, family/friends OPEN SOURCE INPUT Internet & private sector fee-for-service Information Management Staff Collection Management, Fusion, Analysis & Presentation ®

19 ® And now for some specific sources, software and services….