Open-source intelligence

Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) is the result of combining the proven practice of traditional government intelligence (requirements definition, collection management, source discovery and validation, multi-source fusion, compelling actionable presentation), with the wealth of open source information (OSIF) that is legally and ethically available from multi-lingual, multi-media sources of information. These include not only the Internet and traditional publishing (both digital fee-for-access databases and documents, and hard-copy documents listed in pubishing directories) but also gray literature documents (limited edition publications such as membership directories, school yearbooks, technical specifications), expert knowledge in draft form or created on demand, oral knowledge, direct observation, and geospatial information (Russian military combat charts, commercial imagery, Global Positioning System surveys by legal travelers). This discipline is now recognized by the "seven tribes" of intelligence (national, military, law enforcement, business, academic, NGO-media, and religions-clans-citizens), and is in the process of developing international standards suitable for validation by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The most recent doctrinal publications, available free on the Internet, are the NATO Open Source Intelligence Handbook, the NATO Open Source Intelligence Reader, and (NATO) Intelligence Exploitation of the Internet. Thirty volumes of Proceedings from fifteen international conferences on this specific topic, and other references, are available at "OSINT Central", www.oss.net. OSINT centers of excellence exist in many countries, including Australia, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The United States of America is generally mediocre in the practice of OSINT, preferring to spend $35 billion a year on secrets, which represent 2% of the available relevant national security and national competitiveness.