I'm posting this because InfoSec News is probably one of the best outlets of free open source information on information security news, at least that's what I hear from readers, and new subscribers to ISN. As I find bits of news here and there on open source intelligence I will post them every so often since I also wonder what everyone does with all of this information after its posted. Cheers! William Knowles isnat_private ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 02 May 2001 14:23:12 -0400 From: Steven Aftergood <saftergoodat_private> To: secrecy_newsat_private Subject: Secrecy News -- 05/02/01 SECRECY NEWS from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy May 2, 2001 ** CIA COVERT ACTION IN ITALY ** INTELLIGENCE AND THE OPEN SOURCE CHALLENGE ** FISA ACTIVITY REACHES ALL TIME HIGH INTELLIGENCE AND THE OPEN SOURCE CHALLENGE The U.S. intelligence community is belatedly recognizing that it has failed to fully exploit the availability of open source intelligence and that remedial steps to correct this problem should be "a top priority for investment." "Today, open source material of relevance to [intelligence] analysts working in a dispersed threat environment is dauntingly voluminous, and the Intelligence Community is not keeping up with it," according to the "Strategic Investment Plan for Intelligence Community Analysis" produced by the National Intelligence Production Board (NIPB) and published this week by the CIA. "Open source" here refers generally to intelligence-related information that is not classified or otherwise subject to official access controls. As a result it may be collected without resort to espionage. "The NIPB has made the development of an Intelligence Community strategy for open source a top priority for investment and concerted action over the next few years," the Plan states. The Community "also needs to exploit the Internet and other open media more effectively and efficiently." This represents something of an about-face for U.S. intelligence, which in recent years has considered open sources to be somebody else's problem. When George Tenet was asked at his confirmation hearing in 1997 about the role of open source intelligence, he indicated that it was not a priority. "We are an espionage organization," he said dismissively. Even at that time, critics said he was confusing means (espionage) with ends (intelligence). "I don't want to be in the position where we lead people to believe that we are going to be the open source repository for the entire government, or pay to develop that kind of a capability," Mr. Tenet told Congress. "I don't think it's our mission." Given DCI Tenet's negative outlook, it is no surprise that "the Intelligence Community investment in open source... has declined radically in recent years," according to the new Strategic Plan, even as the utility of open source intelligence was growing by leaps and bounds. Under the new Plan, it appears that intelligence agencies will now endeavor to make up for lost time, beginning this year with development of "a Community-wide strategy for exploiting open source material." The Strategic Investment Plan for Intelligence Community Analysis is available on the CIA web site or here (a 3 MB PDF file): http://www.fas.org/irp/cia/product/UnclasSIP.pdf ****************************** To subscribe to Secrecy News, send email to <majordomoat_private> with this command in the body of the message: subscribe secrecy_news [your email address] To unsubscribe, send email to <majordomoat_private> with this command in the body of the message: unsubscribe secrecy_news [your email address] Secrecy News is archived at: http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/secrecy/index.html ___________________ Steven Aftergood Project on Government Secrecy Federation of American Scientists http://www.fas.org/sgp/index.html Email: saftergoodat_private ISN is hosted by SecurityFocus.com --- To unsubscribe email LISTSERVat_private with a message body of "SIGNOFF ISN".
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Sun May 06 2001 - 23:54:11 PDT