Open Source Intelligence (OSINT): merged thread

[KenDawe]

Re-inventing the Early Bird? Or institutionalizing it?
(And is it true that the Early Bird has been politicized in the last 5 years?)

[Jedburgh]

Re-inventing the Early Bird? Or institutionalizing it?
(And is it true that the Early Bird has been politicized in the last 5 years?)

A bit more than the Early Bird.

In executing the National Strategy for Open Source, the Center will be a comprehensive Intelligence Community Center focused on all open sources, to include the Internet, databases, press, radio, television, video, geospatial data, photos, and commercial imagery. The Center's functions will include collection/acquisition; open source analysis and research; centralized training; and facilitation of government-wide access and exploitation.

Extensive details are available in a couple of documents that have been uploaded to AKO KC Intelligence Reference Files, for those with an account.

[DDilegge]

Re-inventing the Early Bird? Or institutionalizing it?
(And is it true that the Early Bird has been politicized in the last 5 years?)

I read the Early Bird (Current News) every morning. It is simply coverage of major news items and Op-Ed pieces that address issues associated with the DoD. No opinion is offered, simply copies of news articles. While one might argue that the Early Bird only posts articles deemed "favorable", I would argue the opposite (for the most part) as I have seen news and opinions that slam the DoD on certain issues. The purpose here is to inform DoD leadership and others on what is being reported in the mainstream news media.

One criticism I have of the Early Bird is that they did away with the Supplement several months ago. The supplement offered a whole slew of additional reporting that might not be deemed "headline news" but otherwise offered deeper insight and background on important issues. The reason given for dropping the supplement was required manpower resources so the main Early Bird could go from a five-day to a seven-day format.

All that said, the SWJ tries to fill in and add depth to the Early Bird by posting Daily News Links. If you look at the address line (url) you can see our take-off (inside joke) on the Early Bird....

Referencing the new Open Source Intelligence Center - whole different ballgame - it will (or should) mine all open source data - not just headline news. Moreover, it will add analysis, not simply a regurgitation...