with Mr. Steele's many works. So, it may be a case of some gold among the mud; or some mud among the gold (to paraphrase St. Jerome).

Use of open-source data has been promoted by many analysts in the agency, long before Mr. Steele reared his head. The shaggy dog story that goes along with that is that consumers have tended to want some "secret stuff" - otherwise, the analytics couldn't really be "intelligence".

Example of how to do it (not a CIA story). Three highly intelligent guys (had to be since I was one of them ) are loaded for bear to brief Boss on a matter. Boss walks in (not having that much background on the matter), sits down, and says: "Mr. McCarthy, do me a favor and get the Brittanica volume that discusses X." OK, get volume. Boss reads; then get volume Y; then Z, etc. Boss ends up with a stack of references which he reads (quick reader was he), while everyone is chomping at the bit. Boss then says: "Now, we can tackle the real issues, since I'll understand what you're telling me."

The points are that (1) there is a lot of open-source out there; and (2) the consumer has to be amenable to recognition of its value (like Boss).