We live in a world of human networks and links, of computer clusters and servers, of virtual and real-life contacts. An environment that never ceases to become more accessible with globalisation and high-speed travel. A world of technology which enables communication; a world of communication which enables access to information; a world which demands information to address a growing number of diverse and changing security threats and concerns. One such new threat that has presented itself recently is the fallout from the global economic crisis which has re-shaped priorities for Government.

The way we access and use information has dramatically changed over the last decade. Communication tools and computing have become so powerful that our ability to obtain information, for a multitude of purposes, has become vastly improved. So improved in fact that modern society is now faced with the problem that has been created by this information accessibility: information overload.

When we want to make critical decisions based on information, how does one do this? How can one take all the unstructured information and structure it so as to make sense of this 'information overload'? How can the information be validated and trusted? How can all this open information be interpreted and used to make recommendations that are based on analytical insight? How can a Government, and in particular the Intelligence Community, in the interests of the public, take advantage of information and adopt a strategy that produces actionable intelligence whilst at the same time offering value to the taxpayer? And equally in the private sector, how can a business adopt the same techniques and gain competitive advantage on behalf of their shareholders?

In response to these questions, OSINT has become an essential part of the critical information cycle that can be utilised by a Government for matters concerning National Security or by the Private sector in achieving profitability.

But what are the origins of this term and why is it playing such an important role for the modern day intelligence analyst, agent or company?

Open Source Information, that is non-classified information gathered from open sources, has been around for a very long time. For as long as people have been doing research, asking critical questions or investigating. Journalists as well as intelligence officials are very familiar with the concept. 'Open' is an expansive term which encapsulates information gathered from humans as well as from computer based documents or digital media sources. It does not refer to the price of such information or whether it must be purchased to acquire, rather with reference to the availability of the information in a non-classified sense.

Why the evolution from Open Source Information (OSINF), a common term in the Intelligence Community, to OSINT? Whereas the first of these refers, as above, to the open nature of collecting information the second incorporates the possibility of making critical decisions based on an analysis of the gathered information. This is especially important now given the amount of information publicly available and is the reason that OSINT has entered the common language of the Intelligence Community - agencies now have the opportunity to perform analytical extraction from all this information and turn this, together with their own knowledge and experience, into actionable intelligence - as well as the Business Community, who can depend on this lower cost model in support of knowledge generation for business intelligence to achieve strategic objectives.

The Oxford English Dictionary describes 'intelligence' in the following terms: 1.) the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills 2.) a person with this ability 3.) the gathering of information of military or political value 4.) information gathered in this way.

Therefore, OSINT is the entire process from the initial gathering of the open information to the processing and analysis of the collected open sources through to the application of that acquired knowledge in a critical situation.

The Latin origin of the word 'intelligentia', from 'intelligere', which means ‘understand’, offers an insight into the correct usage. It is the job of the analyst to 'understand' the information presented to them and through this understanding to make recommendations about a particular subject to assist those in the field.

Internet based references are quick to point out the difference between open and classified sources:

"Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) is an information processing discipline that involves finding, selecting, and acquiring information from publicly available sources and analyzing it to produce actionable intelligence. In the Intelligence Community (IC), the term "open" refers to overt, publicly available sources (as opposed to covert or classified sources)" Source: Wikipedia

It has long been thought that the value of any intelligence gained from secret means was inherently higher or more credible than by overt means. There is no existing body of evidence to support this. These operations 'behind closed doors' really denied collaborative access to the collection and analysis process and relied heavily on key areas such as HUMINT (Human Intelligence), IMINT (Image Intelligence) and SIGINT (Signals Intelligence). Even though open sources have been consistently used in the Intelligence Process, no actual priority has historically been given to acquiring, systematically, information from open sources.

This, with the on-set of 'information overload' and the information capturing technologies of the digital age within a collaborative society, has all changed. Today's users of critical information have accepted OSINT as part of the information cycle (in both private and public sectors). Indeed, it is estimated that between 80 and 95 per cent of the information used by the intelligence community is provided by OSINT at comparatively very little cost within the overall intelligence budget.

In 2005 a study of the CIA ("Re-examining the Distinction between Open Information and Secrets" - By S.Mercado) estimated the cost of an OSINT system to about 1% of the global Intelligence budget. The same study revealed: “numerous surveys putting the contribution of open sources anywhere from 35 to 95 percent of the intelligence used in the (US) government.”

OSINT will not replace the traditional methods of intelligence work for there are many scenarios where information never enters into the public domain. The intelligence operative's job goes beyond what is possible in certain OSINT scenarios. OSINT is best used as a support mechanism to compliment an all-source intelligence gathering and analysis process. The same is true within a business context.

As W.F Kernan, former General of the U.S Army and Supreme Allied Commander (Atlantic), states in the NATO Open Source Intelligence Handbook:

"Open Source Intelligence, or OSINT, is unclassified information that has been deliberately discovered, discriminated, distilled and disseminated to a select audience in order to address a specific question. It provides a very robust foundation for other intelligence disciplines. When applied in a systematic fashion, OSINT products can reduce the demands on classified intelligence collection resources by limiting requests for information only to those questions that cannot be answered by open sources." (page V, NATO OSINT Handbook)

Today, OSINT, when correctly implemented into the Intelligence Cycle, leads to real operational advantages for the Intelligence Community and Business Community.

Through our work within the European OSINT community, and to outline clearly the process and principles that drive this area, our recommendations are:

1.) That Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) be considered as a 'process' that includes analysis, training, technologies and interaction between different spheres of knowledge and not just about non-classified sources of information.

2.) That in order to maximise the efficiency and effectiveness of an OSINT process a dedicated centre should be created to exploit open source information collection, analysis, training and reporting. An 'OSINT system' drives the activities of a centre.

3.) That an OSINT process be adopted in view of further collaborative work across Private and Public organisations focused on security related issues and that a culture of information asset sharing be established through public and private sector partnership.

4.) That new threats demand new resources that can be drawn upon from global open sources: enough information, on-time and on-demand to fulfill the decision makers need for actionable intelligence is now an operational reality.

5.) That in no way does OSINT replace an all-source appreciation of events - it is designed to augment the overall capacity of intelligence collection and analysis.