Category: Briefings (Core)

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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
JHU-APL

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.

Joe Mazzafro
Joe Mazzafro
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2004 Stephen Cambone, Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence, Speech to the Security Affairs Support Association (SAS) on Need for Universal Coverage at the Neighborhood Level of Granularity

About the Idea, Briefings (Core), Historic Contributions, Military
Stephen Cambone
Stephen Cambone

Dr. Stephen Cambone was a fine Undersecetary of Defense for Intelligence (USD(I)) given the context he was in and the policy personalities he was dealing with.  His most brilliant moment, for the public interest, came on 22 January 2004 when he spoke to the Security Affairs Support Association (SASA) about the need for universal coverage at the neighborhood level of granularity.  When combined with Boyd Sutton's findings on the Challenge of Global Coverage (Frog Left), and the 9-11 Commission depiction of an independent Open Source Agency (OSA) on page 413 of its report (Frog Right), the stage is now set for the present USD(I) to finally get moving on this program with an Initial Operating Capability (IOC) of no less than $125 million a year, as has been agreed to by OMB principals and key staff on successive occasions.

Stephen Cambone
Stephen Cambone

The other two legs of the DoD OSINT stoolare below.  Note that the 9-11 Commission did not have time to fully understand the OSA it was recommending; all serious practitioners have agreed that it cannot be within the secret intelligence world, but rather outside the wire, perhaps under joint Defense Intelligence (DIA) and Civil Affairs (CA) proponency, the first responsible for firehosing all OSINT to the high-side, building the bridge from Intelink-U to the SIPR Net; the second responsible for both ingesting all open source information from multinational partners including Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO), and for multi-national information-sharing and sense-making at the unclassified level, all of which is both shared liberally without secret world constraints, and also feed immediately to the high-side for further explotation by all-source analysts with access to all available classified information.

DOC (8 Pages): Cambone Speech to SASA 22 Jan 04

Challenge of Global Coverage
Challenge of Global Coverage
Open Source Agency
Open Source Agency (9-11 Commission)
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2002 Creveld (IL) Twenty-Four Theses on Intelligence

Analysis, Briefings (Core), Collaboration Zones, Communities of Practice, Historic Contributions, History, Methods & Process, Policy, Strategy
Martin van Creveld
Martin van Creveld

Along with Colin Gray, Steve Metz, and Max Manwaring, Martin van Creveld is among the intellectual giants of our era with respect to strategic reflection, and he stands alone at the intersection of strategy, logistics, technology, command & control, and the art of decision-making under conditions of great uncertainty.

His contribution to OSS '02 was created especially for this multinational group, and we believe it will stand the test of time as a seminal work for those who seek to transform intelligence from a bureaucracy that measures inputs to a cosmic force that determines outcomes favorable to all concerned.

Martin van Creveld
Martin van Creveld
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2002 The New Craft of Intelligence: Personal, Public, & Political

Briefings (Core), Briefings & Lectures
Robert Steele
Robert Steele

The following is quotes from the notes of this first slide, as presented to OSS '02:

“Although it follows logically from much that is found in the first book (ON INTELLIGENCE: Spies and Secrecy in an Open World), I want to give credeit to Berto Jongman and the PIOOM project.  It was his map that brought it all together for me, and it is his map that I recognize today as the finest open source intelligence document in the world.”

Follow the Frog to Berto's page from OSS '01.

World Conflict Map 2001
World Conflict Map 2001
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1998 Talking Points on Hackers

Briefings (Core), Briefings & Lectures, Collective Intelligence

EIN at HOPE

Click on above fpr talking points used for the Jane Wallace show in 1998.  Hackers are an advanced form of Collective Intelligence.

There are three main hacker networks in the Western world, all open and legal: Hackers on Planet Earth (HOPE) based in the New York City area; Hackers/THINK Conference based in Silicon Valley, and Hac-Tic,  the European network that includes Germany's CHOAS Computer Club, which meets in The Netherlands on alternating years with HOPE.