Review: Analyzing Intelligence: National Security Practitioners’ Perspectives Second Edition

5 Star, Intelligence (Government/Secret)
Amazon Page
Amazon Page

Roger George

5.0 out of 5 stars A Status Quo Book, Improved from 1st Edition, Still Pulls Punches, October 30, 2014

This is a very fine book, not least because of its inclusion of Jack Davis (search for <analytic tradecraft> as well as Carmen Medina (see them both at Phi Beta Iota the Public Intelligence Blog ), but it must still be categorized as a status quo book. Despite improvements from the 1st edition the authors still pull some punches — I dare hope that by the 3rd edition — and the book is certainly worthy of going forward — they will get tougher, perhaps in a new final chapter — Where Did We Go Wrong, Who Did We Ignore, How Do We Get It Right Now?

Continue reading “Review: Analyzing Intelligence: National Security Practitioners' Perspectives Second Edition”

Search: The Future of OSINT [is M4IS2-Multinational]

Analysis, Budgets & Funding, Collaboration Zones, Communities of Practice, Ethics, InfoOps (IO), Key Players, Methods & Process, Mobile, Policies, Policy, Real Time, Reform, Searches, Strategy, Technologies, Threats, Tools
COIN20 Trip Report
Paradise Found

The future of OSINT is M4IS2.

The future of Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) is Multinational, Multifunctional, Multidisciplinary, Multidomain Information-Sharing & Sense-Making (M4IS2).

The following, subject to the approval of Executive and Congressional leadership, are suggested hueristics (rules of thumb):

Rule 1: All Open Source Information (OSIF) goes directly to the high side (multinational top secret) the instant it is received at any level by any civilian or military element responsive to global OSINT grid.  This includes all of the contextual agency and mission specific information from the civilian elements previously stove-piped or disgarded, not only within the US, but ultimately within all 90+ participating nations.

Rule 2: In return for Rule 1, the US IC agrees that the Department of State (and within DoD, Civil Affairs) is the proponent outside the wire, and the sharing of all OSIF originating outside the US IC is at the discretion of State/Civil Affairs without secret world caveat or constraint.  OSIF collected by US IC elements is NOT included in this warrant.

Continue reading “Search: The Future of OSINT [is M4IS2-Multinational]”

Worth a Look: The Infrastructurist

03 Economy, 07 Health, Worth A Look
Sewer Economics
Sewer Economics

Here is the bit that got our attention:

What’s the financial argument? You reap $7 dollars in economic rewards for every dollar you spend in basic sanitation. That makes it a really, really good investment. In the developing world, it may cost a couple hundred dollars to install a decent latrine, but think of what you save in terms of health costs and what you would otherwise lose when your workers are off with dysentery or whatever. And in developed world we’re learning that if you don’t continue investing in infrastructure you just going to pay a lot more later. It’s that simple.

Author Rose George
Author Rose George
Amazon Page
Amazon Page

We have added this site to the Righteous Site blogroll.  There are gems–and humor, throughout–that reflect a remarkable public intelligence in relation to national infrastructure.

What is clear is that “the numbers” that are presented to the public for any given public works project are those that favor the decision that has already been made, one based on corporate numbers that seek to spend public funds to create capabilities that extract profit from the public at public expense.

Public intelligence is how we get government back into the business of sserving the public rather than serving as the wealth transfer mechanism from individual taxation to corporate profiteering.

Review: Analyzing Intelligence: Origins, Obstacles, and Innovations

4 Star, Intelligence (Government/Secret)

Amazon Page
Amazon Page

Of, By, and For USA Status Quo Bubbas–Essential but Very Partial

July 14, 2009
Roger Z. George
This is a very fine book, not least because of its inclusion of Jack Davis (search for <analytic tradecraft> as well as Carmen Medina (see her presentation to global audience via oss.net/LIBRARY), but in its essentials this is a book of, by, and for the status quo ante bubbas–the American bubbas, I might add.

If you are an analyst or a trainer of analysts or a manager of analysts, this is assuredly essential reading, but it perpetuates my long-standing concerns about American intelligence:

1) Lack of a strategic analytic model (see Earth Intelligence Network)

2) Lack of deep historical and multi-cultural appreciation

3) Lack of a deep understanding and necessary voice on the complete inadequacy of collection sources, the zero presence of processing and lack of desktop analytic tools, and the need for ABSOLUTE devotion to the truth, not–as is still the case, “within the reasonable bounds of dishonesty” aka “slam dunk”

4) Lack of integrity in so many ways, not least of which is the analytic abject acceptance of the false premise that the best intelligence is top secret/sensitive compartmented information–see the online CounterPunch piece on “Intelligence for the President–AND Everyone Else.”

Below are ten books I recommend as substantive complements to this book:
The Landscape of History: How Historians Map the Past
Lost History: Contras, Cocaine, the Press & ‘Project Truth'
Fog Facts : Searching for Truth in the Land of Spin (Nation Books)
Lost Promise
The Age of Missing Information (Plume)
Informing Statecraft
Bureaucratic Politics And Foreign Policy
A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility–Report of the Secretary-General's High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change
Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA
The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America

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Government Archive on Public Intelligence (1992-2006)

Government
Archives 1996-2006
Archives 1996-2006

2006

SA

Government Yekelo African Early Warning

2002

US

Government FSMO Foreign Military Studies Office

2000

US

Government Steele Spies and Secrecy in an Open World

1999

US

Government Coile Information Overlay for Preparing & Coping with Local Disasters

1999

CA

Government George OSINT: Islamic Unrest in China

1999

US

Government Heidenrich Genocide Web Sites (At the Time)

1999

US

Government Heidenrich Sample Daily Briefing on Genocide

1999

UN

Government Marks Proposal for Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN)

1999

US

Government OSS Proliferation Web Sites (At the Time)

1999

US

Government OSS Sample Daily Briefing on Proliferation

1999

NL

Government Reserved OSINT: Foundation for Co-Ordination and Information Sharing

1999

US

Government Sanz Nuclear Terrorism Literature Since 1992

1999

US

Government Sovereign Information Sharing for the Lower End of the Spectrum

1999

US

Government Steele Relevant Information: New Approach to Collection, Sharing, Analysis

1999

US

Government Steele Web-Based Concept for a Global Information Sharing Environment

1999

CA

Government Stout & Quiggin OSINT: High Resolution Imagery for Anyone

1999

AU

Government Wing Optimizing Open Source Information Sharing in Australia

1999

AU

Government Wing OSINT in Australia: The Report

1998

NL

Government BVD Annual Report of the National Security Service

1998

BE

Government Cailloux Belgian Observations on Intelligence Oversight

1998

BE

Government Cailloux Report of the Intelligence Oversight Committee

1998

FR

Government Clerc Economic Intelligence

1998

US

Government Dearth Government and the Information Marketplace

1998

US

Government Hughes FBIS 1995-1998: Transition and Transformation

1998

US

Government Lee Letter to HPSCI Urging Attention to Commercial Mapping Technology

1998

SE

Government Leijonhelm OSINT  and Information Sharing Between Government & Industry

1998

S. Africa

Government Mti OSINT, the African Renaissance, and Sustainable Development

1998

GE

Government Schlickman Ensuring Trust and Security in Electronic Communications

1998

US

Government Steele INFORMATION PEACEKEEPING: The Purest Form of War

1998

US

Government Steele Strategic Issues in National and Regional Intelligence & Security

1998

US

Government Steele Clandestine Human Intelligence Successes, Failures, Possibilities

1998

US

Government Steele (in French) Strategic Intelligence in the USA: Myth or Reality?

1997

UK

Government Andrew Presidents, Secret Intelligence, and Open Sources

1997

US

Government Carroll CENDI Information Managers Group

1997

US

Government Haakon Commercial Imagery Options and Trade-Offs

1997

US

Government Hodge CENDI: Help!  Impact of the Internet on the Consumer

1997

US

Government Johnson National Technical Information Center

1997

US/UK

Government Kerr & Herman Does the Intelligence Community Have a Future? (Two Items in One)

1997

US

Government Robideau Department of Energy Technical Information Program

1996

US

Government Kalil (NEC) Leveraging Cyberspace

1996

US

Government Lucas (COSPO) The Open Source Information System

1995

US

Government Markowitz Community Open Source Program Office (COSPO), Report on the Program

1995

US

Government Peters INADEQUATE ANSWERS: Bureaucracy, Wealth, & Mediocrity (US IC)

1994

US

Government Carroll Harsh Realities: S&T Acquisition Costs, Obstacles, and Results

1994

AU

Government Chantler Producing Intelligence in Australia: H National Open Source Foundation?

1994

US

Government Devost Digital Threat: United States National Security and Computers

1994

US

Government Wiener The Intelligence Community: An Outsider’s View

1993

SE

Government Heden & Dedijer The State of the National Intelligence and Security Community of Sweden

1992

US

Government Cotter NASA Open Source Intelligence Requirements & Capabilities (Slides)

1992

US

Government Cotter NASA Open Source Intelligence Requirements & Capabilities (Text)

1992

US

Government Johnson NTIS Open Source Intelligence Requirements & Capabilities

1992

US

Government Keyworth Government as a Customer in the Digital Age

1992

US

Government McConnell Planned Revisions to Circular No. A-130

1992

US

Government Molholm The CENDI Paradigm: How Some Federal Managers Have Organized

1992

US

Government Mortimer LC FRD Open Source Intelligence Requirements & Capabilities

1992

US

Government Riddle FBIS Open Source Intelligence Requirements & Capabilities

1992

US

Government Steele Information Concepts & Doctrine for the Future

1992

US

Government Studeman Teaching the Giant to Dance

2002 Global Futures Partnership–Vision of Lasting Value

Analysis, Communities of Practice, Cultural Intelligence, Global Futures Partnership, Historic Contributions, Methods & Process, Peace Intelligence

The Global Futures Partnership (GFP) is a strategic “think and do tank” that undertakes unclassified global outreach for CIA and other Intelligence Community elements on the most important issues facing the intelligence community today and in coming years. It conceptualizes and implements interdisciplinary and multi-organizational projects on key intelligence issues with leading thinkers from academia, business, strategy, and intelligence consultants.

Below is the citation for the award given to the visionary, founder, and core catalyst within the GFP, followed by two CIA seals: the one on the left leads to the pro forma page on GFP, sadly not offering access to its unclassified and often brilliant productions over the past several years, and the one on the left offers a link to a presentation on “Meeting 21st Century Transnational Challenges: Building a Global Intelligence Paradigm” by Roger George, possibly the most tangible evidence of GFP's influence on CIA's leadership.

OSS '02: 21st Century Emerging Leadership Award. Global Futures Partnership, Central Intelligence Agency. Under the leadership of Carol Dumaine with her extraordinary vision, the Global Futures Partnership has created strategic learning forums bringing the rich perspectives of the outside world into the classified environment in a manner never before attempted. This official but revolutionary endeavor nurtures an outside-in channel for integrating a diversity of perspectives. It is a vanguard toward a future in which the lines between national and global intelligence, and between governmental and nongovernmental intelligence, are blurred into extinction.

Global Futures Partnership
Global Futures Partnership
Meeting 21st Century Transnational Challenges: Building a Global Intelligence Paradigm
Meeting 21st Century Transnational Challenges: Building a Global Intelligence Paradigm

The GFP is not to be confused with the Open Source Center (OSC).  The first is a visionary outreach elements that seeks to share information and achieve multi-national sense-making, in one instance working with up to 35 countries.  The OSC is a bureaucratic unit that classifies everything it creates and refuses to engage with any countries other than the standard English-speaking allies and a couple of others totalling eleven including the USA, Canada, the UK, Australia, you get the idea….

The CIA leadership never properly supported the GFP.  Its vision