OSINT in perspective - US IC OSINT strategy 2024-2026

The US Intelligence Community (IC) is formalizing its approach to the use of open sources, as evidenced recently presented OSINT strategy for 2024-2026. The document outlines a clear vision for the future of the discipline, setting the stage for significant advances in how open source data is used for intelligence purposes. In this blog post, we will summarize the strategy's key concepts, explore its areas of focus, and discuss its potential impact on the use of OSINT.

The strategy defines OSINT as intelligence data derived from publicly (PAI - Publicly Available Information) or commercially (CAI - Commercially Available Information) information, intended to meet specific intelligence requirements. It is worth paying attention to the indication of commercial sources. In this respect, the approach presented by the US government may differ slightly from the common understanding of OSINT as information generally available in open access. This may have quite significant consequences as to the scope of information included in the scope of activity, if we take into account the modern possibilities of purchasing satellite images or the number of scientific journals available for payment. In the context of cyber activity, this category will likely also include sources such as VirusTotal. The mission and vision outlined in the strategy emphasize the importance of timely, relevant and specialized data from open sources to support decision-making on national security and protect the nation and its interests. Looking at the introduction and assumptions alone, it is also worth noting that the CIA Director is responsible for OSINT within the intelligence community. This may indicate both the agency's key role in implementing the strategy and the assumption that OSINT is still a field related to HUMINT rather than SIGINT.

The strategy highlights four strategic areas:

1. Coordinate open source data acquisition and sharing of results: Streamline open source data acquisition to prevent multiple entities working on the same tasks and expand data sharing within the intelligence community. By coordinating efforts and adhering to ethical and legal standards, agencies should strive to increase the efficiency of the use of OSINT and ensure the best use of resources.
2. Establishing integrated data management: The strategy calls for better coordination of data collection from open sources, optimizing the data acquisition process, avoiding duplication and ensuring compliance with the protection of privacy and civil liberties.
3. Promoting technological innovation in the field of OSINT: By emphasizing the need for technological innovation, modern tools are intended to support effective exploitation. The need to use artificial intelligence and machine learning is also indicated here. While artificial intelligence is currently applied to all kinds of scenarios, sensible or not, in the case of OSINT, the ability to quickly analyze and compare texts is potentially a very promising area.
4. Development and recruitment of OSINT professionals and methodologies: Highlighting the dynamic nature of the discipline, the strategy points to the need for a standardized methodology and the development of employees skilled in identifying, extracting and delivering insights from open source data.

The strategy identifies information management and partnerships between agencies as key enablers for its implementation. Effective circulation of information is essential to coordinating OSINT activities and requirements within the intelligence community. Additionally, supporting partnerships with academia, the private sector and overseas counterparts is crucial to ensuring that analysts have access to the technology that enables them to work effectively.

Taking these assumptions into account, we can identify several main trends that will influence how American intelligence will approach open sources.

• Increased professionalization and integration: By professionalizing OSINT as an intelligence discipline and integrating it into current analysis processes, agencies will seek to improve the quality of analysis as well as its impact on intelligence products. In the near term, this will probably not translate into...y separation of an agency dealing only with OSINT but it may give analysts more opportunities to specialize. On counterintelligence.pl, in the last entry, we talked about how the mere fact that information is avaialble from an open source does not translate into ease of analysis.
• Emphasis on innovation and use of new technologies: Leveraging technology for the scalable use and analysis of large volumes of materials can dramatically simplify the work of analysts. We can especially pay attention to the development of tools such as ChatGPT and adapting them to the analysis of technical or academic sources. This may lower entry barriers to the analysis of given issues if the technology is able to effectively filter and present conclusions of processed texts.
• Cooperation and information exchange: The strategy's emphasis on coordination and data exchange should contribute to closer cooperation within intelligence agencies and broader cooperation with external partners. This may result in a more unified approach to intelligence collection and analysis, resulting in standardization of analysis methods and, as a result, more repeatable effects.
• Education and workforce development: By establishing training standards and development pathways for analysts, OSINT has the opportunity to become more professionalized as a discipline and, therefore,
• Ethical and legal issues: It is worth noting the emphasis on the ethical and appropriate use of OSINT. Considering that at least some of the data on which analysts will work will be publicly available, compliance with ethical and legal standards is crucial to building trust between agencies and the public. As is widely known, intelligence agencies lose very easily and it is very difficult to rebuild trust.

To sum up, the strategy for 2024-2026 sets a bold plan, emphasizing the professionalization of the discipline and the need to limit the fragmentation of analysis among a number of entities that may sometimes duplicate their efforts. By focusing on coordination, technological solutions, analyst specialization and maintaining ethical and legal standards, the strategy has the opportunity to introduce comprehensive solutions in the use of open sources by American intelligence. It remains an open question how this will affect the position of open sources among other intelligence disciplines. There is no doubt that the United States has one of the most extensive systems for obtaining information that is not available to the general public. And in the case of such key and difficult to predict events as the invasion of Ukraine, this is often the case they will still play the first fiddle in assessing the situation. However, professionalizing OSINT can help build relationships between intelligence agencies, policymakers, and the public. The ability to present analysis results without worrying about "sources and methods" expands the range of products that can be used to inform the latter. It is worth noting that such initiatives already exist, such as the website Tearline run by the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency. Let's keep our fingers crossed for the successful implementation of the strategy's vision, which will translate into the professionalization of this very broad discipline and the promotion of methodologically correct analysis of open sources.