Information of open sources

The information of open sources or information of origin open source (ROSO, in English: in open source intelligence (OSINT)) is a Renseignement obtained by a source of public information.

By extension, the ROSO also indicates the activities and methods of collection and analysis of the Information of opened sources, i.e. of information available to the general public. These sources include the newspapers, Internet, the delivers S, the Magazine S scientists, the diffusions radio, Télévision, etc

This type of information is an essential component of the economic and strategic intelligence in the private sector.

Origin: OSINT

The information in open sources finds its origin in the United States. The English expression " open intelligence" source; (OSINT) does not have relationship with the expression " open source" , since this expression is used in the community of the Informatique Logiciel to indicate the programs whose source code is available publicly (and modifiable).

One should not either confuse OSINT with information in open source (OSIF, Open Source Information) on which OSINT bases oneself. OSIF is very information available publicly; OSINT is a method of information analytically normalized and composed of OSIF, which is conceived to answer tasks specific or in support to the decision making.

Collection of information

Although it is believed that the information treats only secret or dissimulated Information S, it is not always the case since many Information S essential with the process of intelligence can be found in public space, or can be obtained by average the nonconventional ones. The result of the explosion of the Information, it is that more Information is accessible to the analysts. In the same way, a secret action often has consequences which are not it, so that it is possible to the analysts to gather an image of an activity hidden starting from various open sources.

In the information in opened sources, the collection of information is generally different from the collection in other disciplines of the intelligence, where obtaining rough information to analyze can be a major difficulty, particularly if one must obtain it nonco-operative targets. The information in opened sources, the principal difficulty is to publicly identify the relevant and reliable sources in the considerable quantity of information accessible. Obtaining information itself is comparatively easier since it is, by definition, publicly accessible.

Sometimes, the information with human source (overt HUMINT) is regarded as part of the OSINT. The information with human source is the use of nonclandestine human information sources. For example, the interrogation of refugees, the debriefing of legal workers, and public reports/ratios of agents like the attaches and the ambassadors.

The current guides of definition of the information in open sources are:

  • NATO Open Source Intelligence Handbook,
  • NATO Open Source Intelligence Reader,
  • NATO Intelligence Exploitation off the Internet guides.

A history of the OSINT at the recent times is contained in 30 volumes of the deliberations of sponsored annual conference OSINT by OSS.Net.

An essential link of the economic information

  • Why the information of the open sources is an essential link of the economic information

According to the Commission on the capacities of the information of the United States concerning the report/ratio on the massive weapons of destruction published in March 2005, OSINT must be included in the process of information for the following reasons (as indicated in the report/ratio):

The nature always changing of our needs for information forces the community of the information to include/understand quickly and easily a broad range of country and culture foreigners. -… The contemporary threats change quickly and are diffused geographically; it is a fact that an analyst of the intelligence services can be forced to quickly change subject with another. More and more, the professionals of the community of the information need to quickly assimilate social, economic, and cultural information on a country, information often detailed in open sources.

The information of open source provides a base of comprehension complementary to that of the classified information. In spite of a great quantity of Information S classified produced by the community of the information, the quantity of classified information produced on some subject that it either can be completely limited, and can be included/understood apart from its context, if she is seen only from the one point of view of classified source. Perhaps the most important example today refers to terrorism, where the information of open source can fill of the lacks and create bonds which make it possible to the analysts better to include/understand information split up, terrorist rumors of plans, possible ways of attack, and potential targets.

Information of open source can protect from the sources and the methods. Sometimes a judgment of intelligence which was formed by Sensitive information and classified can be defended on the basis of report/ratio of open source. This can prove to be useful when the persons in charge of the procedures need to explain the decision of the procedures or to communicate with official foreigners without compromising the classified sources.

Only the open sources can “record the history”. A robust program of open source can, indeed, gather data to control the Culture S of the world and their evolution in time. This is difficult, if it is not impossible, by using the “snapshots” provided by the classified methods of collection (The Commission one the Intelligence Capabilities, 378-379).

The National Commission of the United States on the Terrorist attacks published a report in July 2004 recommending the creation of a bearing information agency on opened sources, but without another detail or comment. Consequently, the report/ratio of the WMD Commission (known also under the name of Robb-Silberman Commission) in March 2005 recommended the creation of a direction of the sources open to the CIA.

In December 2005, the Director of the National Information ( National Intelligence in English) named Eliot A. Jardines as assistant of the Assistant editor of the National Information for the opened sources, to be useful as a director of the community of the information for the opened sources, and to define the strategy, the orientations and the vision overall for the activities of open source of the community. In November 2005, the Director of the National Intelligence (DNI) announced the creation of a Center of the open sources (Open Source Center, OSC). The functions of the OSC' S include the collection, the analysis and research, and the formation to facilitate the access on a government scale and the use of information of open source. The OSC is based on the expertise on the Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) of the the CIA, which provided to the US government a large range of products and services of open source since 1941 (including Lr contained of the media world available to the public through World News Connection). The signal operational unit OSINT moreover high level in the American army according to some is the branch of intelligence of open source of the Special Operations Command Joint Intelligence Center (SOCJIC).

Many of other nations maintain units operational of information in sources opened, for example the Office off National Assessments (ONA) Australian, the BBC Monitoring Service (BBCM) of the United Kingdom, and Swiss Army GeneralStab. The tasks of collection and analysis are allocated various manners by several agencies: for example, the ONA is responsible for the analysis and is an information agency of the Australian government, whereas the BBCM is a civil organization financed by governement which deals only of the collection and the aggregation of new sources, and which employs civil journalists.

In a speech in Council one Foreign Relations in February 2006, the secretary of Donald Rumsfeld Defense seems to have recognized the importance of the media open like a component of the National security in the age of the Information.

See too

Internal bonds

External bonds

  • European Open Source Intelligence Association

  • Society off Competitive Intelligence Professionals

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