Communities of Practice – Page 1435 – Public Intelligence Blog

Jock Gill served President Bill Clinton as a communications specialist, and has gone on to reflect deeply on public communications as the inherent foundation of democracy. As part of that process he has recognized–and taught us and others–that open spectrum as championed by David Weinberger is an inherent “need” for full and open public communications.

Below are two documents, the first is his presentation notes from OSS '04, and the second is the first page linking to David Weingerger's seminal White Paper that was also published as a chapter in COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace. The Frog leads to the original online; the page on the right to the printable version of the chapter.

2004/12/232009/08/01

2004 Harrison (US) Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) Requirements Management: A U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) Perspective

Historic Contributions, Methods & Process, Military

Ben Harrison

PLATINUM LIFETIME AWARD, Mr. Ben Harrison, OSINT Pioneer

Mr. Ben Harrison is a master of both the military bureaucracy, and the global open source intelligence (OSINT) world. He has been a pioneer in all respects–helping the larger Department of Defense Community understand OSINT; creating innovative solutions for his own Command, the U.S. Special Operations Command; and helping teach otherss about the basics of OSINT. Within the U.S. Department of Defense, he is the tip of the spear for DoD OSINT.

USSOCOM is still the only “full spectrum” Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) shop in the US Government–others do foreign media (in a handful of languages), document exploitation, legal traveler exploitation, but only USSOCOM does full-spectrum Black, Gray, and White OSINT that connects one bullet to one target. Below is his presentation to OSS '04.

2004/12/222009/08/01

2004 Kaplan (US) The Saudi Connection: How billions in oil money spawned a global terror network

09 Terrorism, Government, Historic Contributions, Law Enforcement, Media

GOLDEN CANDLE AWARD: Mr. David Kaplan

OSS '04: To Mr. David Kaplan, for his extraordinary exploitation of legal and ethical sources of information in the pursuit of investigative journalism on behalf of U.S. News & World Report. His studies of North Korean government corruption and of Saudi Arabian government sponsorship of terrorism, represent the best practices in his field.

Today he is Editorial Director for the Center for Public Integrity, one of our Righeous Sites (click on Cover Photo to go to the Center). In addition to overseeing the Center’s editorial work, he serves as director of its International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

Below is the core story as he told it personally at OSS '04.

2004/12/212009/08/01

2004 Knapp (US) Al-Qaeda Use of the Mass Media in InfoWar/Netwar; The Distortion of Islamic Concepts and Practices by Muslim Extremists; Diversity in Islam

Analysis, Civil Society, Government, Historic Contributions, History, Methods & Process

Very frew “all-source” intelligence analysts in the US secret world impress us, in part because they will never actually be “all-source” until we get a grip on Open Source Intelligence (OSINT); in part because the secret world refuses to engage with 95% of the real-world and therefore will always lack of the historical and cultural perspectives that only multinatational information-sharing and sense-making networks can provide; and in part because half of them are very young and right out of school, with rotten tools, 1950's management chains and editing practices, and “no way out.”

On this page are three briefings from an individual that is the exception to the rule. This individual represents all that a perfect analyst should be, to include a non-negotiable demand for access to all relevant information in any languaage and any medium. This analyst gives force to the adage that one analyst with a brain is worth a thousand “analyst” bodies who only know how to cut and paste what they are spoon-fed by badly managed classified collection systems with no strategic perspective.

2004/12/202009/08/01

2004 Marlatt (US) Military Librarianship in an Academic Environment

Academia, Historic Contributions, Methods & Process, Military

Greta Marlatt is one of the librarian “top guns” at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) in Monteray, California. The photo leads to her official page at NPS.

She is known for many fine accomplishments but among them is her continuously updated bibliography on intelligence and public policy.

The HTML version online does not appear to be available at this time (Aug 09).

Below is her presentation to OSS '04,

2004/12/192009/08/07

2004 Mazzafro (US) Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) and Global Issues

Briefings (Core), Collaboration Zones, Communities of Practice, Historic Contributions, Threats

GOLDEN CANDLE AWARD: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

OSS '04: To the JHU-APL, and especially to Capt Joseph Mazzafro, USN (Ret) and Dr. Michael Vlahos, for sustained excellence in the integration of Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) into their complex all-source analytic efforts in support of the Department of Defense. Aided by the Gibson Library, they have set a new standard.

JHU-APL has always been a special place for special people to work in a manner that allows for the crossing of boundaries. In the world of public intelligence in the public interest, two have stood out–Capt Joe Mazzafro, USN (Ret), who speaks truth to power in a manner most compelling, and Michael Vlahos, more on him on his own page.

Over the years Capt Mazzafro has, in our view, demonstrated integrity in discerning and reporting the truth, that is sorely lacking in too many quarters. He does this on force structure, on strategy, on personnel, not just on sources & methods. Below is hie contribution to OSS '04.