2004 Simmons (US) to Schoomaker (US) Concern of Army Mis-Definition of Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) as a Category of Information Instead of a Transformational Discipline in its Own Right

Historic Contributions, History of Opposition, Policy

General Schoomaker and Congressman Rob Simmons understood each other.  The letter below, from Congressman Simmons to General Schoomaker, was intended to give General Schoomaker an opportunity to instruct LtGen Keith Alexander, then Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence , as to his duties.  A change in Army doctrine resulted, and separate Open Source Intelligence (OSINT)doctrine was developed, but developed very badly.  The Army G-2 mafia never took OSINT serioiusly as a separate discipline, and together with the Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) never growing past its broadcast monitoring role, was a severe impediment to progress in this arena.  LtGen Alexander, today the Director of the National Security Agency (NSA) understood how to use OSINT in support of ABLE DANGER and in support of NSA missions, but he never understood the urgency of making OSINT a discipline in its own right that could be used to support all of the Army's mission areas, Whole of Government inter-agency planning, programming, and campaign execution, and even less so, coalition and multinational multifunctional operations with Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO), such as the Defense Advanced Programs Agency (DARPA) has consistently supported with its annual STRONG ANGEL exercise.

When Congressman Simmons lost by 80 votes in 2006, in large part because two newspapers in his District did not do their homeword and turned against him for not having “big ideas”–nothing could have been further from the truth–the Army G-2 mafia immediately down-graded OSINT, relegating it to contractors who know nothing of OSINT and refuse to sub-contract experts who do.  With the exception of the OSINT unit at the US Special Operations Command, Army OSINT is totally hosed today, and much in need of a G-2 that understands both “full-spectrum” HUMINT and “full-spectrum” OSINT.  They have no bench from which to find such a person.

"The Letter"
"The Letter"

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

1998 Politi (IT), Becher (DE) et al, Toward a European Intelligence Policy (Chaillot Paper 34)

Historic Contributions, Policy, White Papers
Alessandro Politi
Alessandro Politi

This is one of the important papers from the 1990's. The European Union (EU) never really got its intelligence act together, and shows no signs of doing so today as this is loaded (2009).  Editor Alessandro Politi coined the term “intelligence minuteman” in 1992, and is one of the leading minds in Europe on intelligence with integrity.

Eventually we must have a global intelligence network and policy, perhaps rooted in a United Nations Open-Source Decision-Support Information Network (UNODIN).

In the meantime, this paper is as good a review as any of why regional intelligence policies matter and are needed.

Alessandro Politi et al
Alessandro Politi et al

1997 Botbol (FR) The Open Source Revolution: Early Failures and Future Prospects

Government, Historic Contributions, History, Media, Policy
Maurice Botbol
Maurice Botbol

Maurice Botbol was among the first professional observers to notice the conflict between the secret intelligence world's view of open sources as “Open Sores,” and the competing view of open sources as both complementary and often sufficient.  Below is his presentation to OSS '97.  His most trenchant observations are regretably not included in the document.  Click on his photo to reach his publishing company.

Early Failures
Early Failures

1995 House Appropriations Committee Surveys Open Source Intelligence (OSINT)

History of Opposition, Legislation, Methods & Process, Policy

In 1995 the House Appropriations Committee (HAC) took and interest in Open Source Intelligence (OSINT), and c arried out a survey that to the best of our knowledge, was blocked, side-stepped, and generally not respected by the U.S. Intelligence Community generally and the Department of Defense (DoD) specifically.

Click on the below JPEG to read two pages summarizing what OSS CEO said to them.

HAC OSINT 1995
HAC OSINT 1995