CUTTING THE OSINT
The main problem with cutting back or eliminating any intelligence gathering discipline is the possible problem of the loss of information that can be utilized to derive intelligence. All information that can be collected should be gathered, processed, and disseminated to the all-source fusion agency in order to completely draw the best picture of an investigated situation.
In the latter half of the twentieth century a burst of electronic technology occurred and developed an astounding amount of information via the Internet that is growing with more information by the minute. Most of the information that is publicly available is gathered by a resource known as open-source intelligence (OSINT). Due to budget cutting and having to eliminate one “INT”, the OSINT must be considered for the following reasons.
One of the main problems with OSINT is that there is so much information; it is sometimes difficult to figure out what to collect and what not to collect. An analyst trying to scan through the tons of data in order to find quality information for a request can spend hours trapped in research. Albeit, the Internet is not the only tool available to an OSINT analyst, the majority of other information can be found somewhere on the world-wide-web via electronic city maps, business web sites, etc.
This leads to the next point of availability to everyone. The analysts from the other disciplines; HUMINT, SIGINT, IMINT, and MASINT, most certainly have the Internet available. Many times there is not a need to put in a request for an OSINT analyst to research out information that is readily available to an analyst. The time that it takes an analyst from the HUMINT, SIGINT, IMINT, MASINT, or an all-source fusion agency to put in a request to an OSINT analyst and place a product on pause is not practical. Time could be better spent conducting the research within the INT or all-source fusion entity and thus bringing a more favorable result in the information found.
Many times information disseminated from other INTs to an all-source fusion agency can be the wrong information, or the consumer could also be asking the wrong request for information from the OSINT analyst. If each analyst conducts the research, there is no doubt as to whether the question is answered correctly or not. This can eliminate the process of having to conduct double work on the same request and save more time and money overall.
For centuries humans have depended on natural evolutionary processes for intelligence. Gathering information or doing simple research was a process that required large amounts of time and equipment until the proper information was found. Over the past several years we have seen how technology has advanced for the better of humanity. In “Get Smarter” by Jamais Cascio he brings to our attention some of the ways technology has benefited us today and how it could continue to benefit us in the future as well. The internet has become one of the largest breakthroughs in technology and become one of the most helpful tools created so far.
As technology continues to advance at lightning speed, the world as we used to know it is beginning to disappear. Publically available data has replaced much of the espionage tactics that the CIA depended on after WWII and into the Cold War. Information that used to take years to obtain through covert missions is now readily available on social media, commercial databases, or through Signals intelligence (SIGINT). As the world becomes more technologically advanced and intelligence sources display new opportunities, the Intelligence Community (IC) has been there to exploit the data to gain the upper hand on the enemy, and support decision makers. Advancements in technology have made the IC what it is today, however, the path of learning the correct methods of exploitation is littered with abuses. In the 1950’s and 60’s, the CIA’s newest technology was a proposed mind control drug, and project MK-ULTRA was born. The Central intelligence Agency (CIA) performed rogue tests on an unknowing public without their knowledge and severely tainted the image of the agency. In 2013, the public found out about the National Security Agency’s (NSA) Top Secret PRISM program that obtained the phone and internet records of the public without their consent. These two programs were separated by decades, yet the similarities are undeniable. Both MK-ULTRA and PRISM resulted in intelligence oversight reforms aimed at managing these types of operations before they occur. While the government does not always have the ability to foresee how advancements in technology will affect the public, intelligence oversight mechanisms over the past 20 years provide the necessary safeguards that are needed to protect each American’s privacy, provide for th...
Fusion centers are exclusively designed to empower first responders, law enforcement, communities, public and private sectors to be educated and trained to understand the importance of sharing national intelligence. This research will focus on the strength and weakness, how to apprise and manage The Department of Homeland Security,
The TIB/MIBs must be able to support and direct the intelligence collaboration, with both regionally aligned forces and expeditionary elements such as the global reaction force (GRF). This is a new concept and in FY11, this new type of remote intelligence support was still being charted for the TIB/MIB. Intelligence commanders in coordination with both parent and supported commands began looking for the most efficient employment of the Intelligence Enterprise to support rapid deployments of the GRF. The prospect of additional intelligence consumers outside of the Theater added to pressure on the TIB/MIBs to task organize to support. Previously, the TIB/MIBs had produced intelligence analysis for only one combatant command in theater and now, in some cases, have over a dozen consumers plus the global reaction force.
Waltz, David L. “Artificial Intelligence: Realizing the Ultimate Promises of Computing.” NEC Research Institute and the Computing Research Association (1996): 2 November 1999 .
University of Idaho. (2014). Information Technology Services: Appendix 1: ITS Analysis of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Retrieved from http://www.uidaho.edu/its/strategic-plan/appendix-i.
...these intelligence failures, more emphasis is now placed on the creation of intelligence products used on the battlefield. All possible enemy courses of actions are now red teamed in an attempt to produce a much accurate analytical product.
The cost in most cases that allows systems to “talk” to other systems may an additional charge, and you still may only be able to “talk” to all of the platforms. Although, the cost may be high on the front end the rewards outweigh the cost. I know personally that a life can be saved because the doctor in the Emergency room was able to view the patient's doctors office chart and review current medications and allergies.
Intelligence researchers gather data, analyze information and seek clarification from other intelligence and law enforcement agencies. They regularly receive large volumes of incoming requests that they process through applying standard screening methods.
Probabilistic reasoning is difficult. People prefer to reject ambiguity and demand that concrete predictions be made. However, intelligence is inherently ambiguous. In intelligence forecasting, it is difficult to determine what information constitutes a signal, and what constitutes noise. In “Connecting the Dots: The Paradoxes of Intelligence Reform”, Malcolm Gladwell analyzes several high-profile “intelligence failures”, such as the Yom Kippur War, September 11th, Pearl Harbor, and the Bay of Pigs fiasco, as well as several psychological studies, and comes to the conclusion that: (1) there is no such thing as a perfect intelligence system - all systems require tradeoffs; (2) failures do not constitute the limitations of the intelligence community,
It can and is very biased depending on where the intelligence is coming from. For example if the intelligence is being pushed by a specific diplomatic party news cast then it will be worded to favor that party which can have false misleading intelligence. OSINT can be more than news cast it cover social media sites I can go onto some ones Facebook account and see who there family is, where they are from and are now, what there family looks like, who their friends are and where they go to school all of this is bad for that individual and very dangerous. OSINT is the most used by criminals to target women, children and potential houses to rob. It is also widely used by terrorist organizations to gain intelligence on individuals, companies and capabilities the United States might have. This is by far the biggest downfall to OSINT it is open for any and everyone to see leaving us very vulnerable to our
...iled data on all its cars, they can scope problems more accurately, because they don’t need to integrate that data manually they can act on it faster. And because all the functional teams within Volvo are working with the same data, they can act as one.” 7
Imagine asking your computer to do something in the same way you would ask a friend to do it. Without having to memorize special commands that only it could understand. For computer scientists this has been an ambitious goal; that can further simplify computers. Artificial Intelligence, a system that can mimic human intelligence by performing task that usually only a human can do, usually has to use a form of natural language processing. Natural language processing, a sub-field of computer science and artificial intelligence, concerns the successfully interaction between a computer and a human. Currently one of the best examples of A.I.(Artificial Intelligence) is IBM 's Watson. A machine that gained popularity after appearing on the show
This paper will highlight the development of human intelligence (HUMINT) and the importance of it in intelligence operations. HUMINT can provide information in areas that technical intelligence cannot and also drive the collection requirements of these disciplines when additional evidence is needed. HUMINT is critical in espionage efforts and has undergone the greatest changes from the start of the Cold War to the launch of the War on Terrorism.
HARRIS, H., MURPHY, S., & VAISMAN, M. (2013).Analyzing the analyzers an introspective survey of data scientists and their work.Sebastopol, Calif, O'Reilly Media.http://proquest.safaribooksonline.com/9781449368388.