DYNAMIC PAGE -- HIGHEST POSSIBLE CLASSIFICATION IS
TOP SECRET // SI / TK // REL TO USA AUS CAN GBR NZL
(U) Making Use of Open Source Info
FROM: Charlie Speight
Internet Program Manager (IT Directorate)
Run Date: 05/17/2005
Open Source information as an intelligence resource. (U//FOUO)
(U//FOUO) The explosion of information technologies, accesses and publicly available content
has exposed to the Intelligence Community (IC) an incredible range and variety of data never
before seen. That which was once very difficult to obtain is now readily available via the
Internet, trade publications, television and other means. Modern government, commerce,
manufacturing, communications, journalism and academics increasingly require rapid and global
information sharing and, with that sharing, come tremendous opportunities for the Intelligence
Analyst.
(U//FOUO) There is a long and vocal chronicle of individuals and organizations calling for more
(and a more institutionalized) integration of Open Source (OS) information into the Community
environments and intelligence analyses. Indeed, OS has been an integral part of Intelligence as
agencies and analysts have used and incorporated it for decades as background, lead
information, for expansion or even as Intelligence itself.
(U//FOUO) Still, OS has not been as fully recognized as an intelligence resource as many believe
necessary. Since the events of September 11, 2001, the call for more and better inclusion of OS
into the Intelligence mainstream has been tremendous. From pundits to editorialists, analysts to
legislative inquiries and Presidential Commissions, the message has become quite unmistakable:
Use Open Source more .
(U//FOUO) The Intelligence Community is compelled to respond to these pressures - and it is.
The Principal Deputy Director for National Intelligence - General Hayden - has been working on
the development of an Open Source "entity" per the recommendations of the 9/11 and Weapons
of Mass Destruction Presidential Committee reports. Aides have studied the current OS
environment in the Community and General Hayden himself has solicited the opinions of OS
experienced NSA employees.
(C) Clearly, the Intelligence Community is poised - by self-recognition as well as by
Congressional mandate - to embrace Open Source information as an intelligence resource.
Nonetheless, despite years of internal lobbying and definitive evidence of the SIGINT production
value of Open Source - particularly that derived from the Internet - the National Security
Agency's Internet environment is woefully inadequate. Progress is being made with the
installation of a new, modern and consolidated unclassified network (OUTPARKS) , but this is
just the rudimentary start for what should be a dynamic integration of the Internet into the
SIGINT culture.
(U//FOUO) As the Community moves to embrace the Internet and Open Source, it is incumbent
on NSA to do the same; not just to emulate the rest of the Intelligence brotherhood or because
Congress has insisted on it, but because it is in the best interest of this Agency and SIGINT
production.
(U) For more information, see the Open Source webpage .
"(U//FOUO) SIDtoday articles may not be republished or reposted outside NSANet
without the consent of S0121 (DL sid_comms)."
DYNAMIC PAGE -- HIGHEST POSSIBLE CLASSIFICATION IS
TOP SECRET // SI / TK // REL TO USA AUS CAN GBR NZL
DERIVED FROM: NSA/CSSM 1-52, DATED 08 JAN 2007 DECLASSIFY ON: 20320108