An Open Source Intelligence Center (OSIC) does not exist. The CIA's Open Source Center does not produce intelligence, only classified information, and it is limited to what it can collect online or via US citizens with SECRET clearances who generally lack a deep understanding of history, language, and culture. It also refuses to be serious about Whole of Government decision-support, the one area where classified sources cannot compete. The DoD Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) program is neither a program (single Congressionally-mandated accounting) nor intelligence; it is a gawd-awful mess desperately in need of an across the board audit. followed by major deconstruction and reconstitution. The US Special Operations Command (USSSOCOM) J-23 (Open Source Branch) was for many years the closest approximation, answering 40% of all global USSOCOM essential elements of information placed into the all-source requirements system, at a fraction of the cost of classified sources, and with close to 100% satisfaction of all requirements that were subject to resolution. Among many major issues are the ignoring of intelligence by policy, acquisition, and operations; and the ignorance within the US intelligence community of how to manage the education of customers for Whole of Government multi-level time-phased decision-support.
See Also:
2012 PREPRINT: The Craft of Intelligence [Full Text Online]
2009 DoD OSINT Leadership and Staff Briefings
Chinese Create New Open Source Intelligence System
Open Source Agency: Executive Access Point
Review: No More Secrets – Open Source Information and the Reshaping of U.S. Intelligence
Review: Open Source Intelligence in a Networked World
Search: “new rules for the new craft of intelligence”
