全球智库信息集成服务系统

Second-Generation Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) and the OSINT Cycle

• OSINT has been revolutionized over the past two decades.
• OSINT is often underutilized by the Intelligence Community because of the difficultly in understanding emerging OSINT sources and methods, particularly social media platforms.
• A more robust definition of OSINT is needed, as open source data can come in many forms.
• Commercial off-the-shelf tools can serve the interests of the Intelligence Community, but they are rarely a perfect match, and many tools have extremely limited utility for intelligence analysis because they are not designed for its purposes.
• Rapid advances in machine learning and natural language processing are changing the efficiency of these methods for sorting, translating, and analyzing data for intelligence purposes.
• There are many opportunities for further research into OSINT methodology, commercial off-the-shelf tools for open source analysis, and open source analytic methods to bring greater intelligence value to the IC and to enable more-efficient operations.