Reflections from an OSINT Crisis Monitor

I was at work supporting a Booz Allen client, beginning the day in my role as an open-source intelligence (OSINT) specialist embedded in an all-source intelligence element: That’s when I saw the signs of a bigger conflict in an already tense region. 

Me: “Hey, I am seeing a few online posts and pictures of tanks rolling across the border—are you guys tracking that? What can I grab for you?”

Mechanized military unit specialist: “You have pictures of tanks crossing the border? Where?”

Civilian team lead: “Can you send those to us?”

Officer-in-charge: “Does it seem like a false flag?”

So began several months of work providing 24-hour updates on troop movements, lines of contact, and ceasefire negotiations.

Supporting regional theater intelligence elements with OSINT means working alongside uniformed, civilian, and contract personnel to keep the United States and its allies safe. As one military leader said, “There is no badge color [referring to the colored badges that distinguish government and military personnel from contractors and foreign nationals] in the foxhole. We want the best answers we can get so the commander and Joint Chiefs can make an informed decision.” 

Fast forward a year to a new mission set: On a cold winter morning, the division chief came over during a multinational exercise and said, “I am pulling you guys for real-world.” Seeing my teammate and I exchange puzzled looks, he added, “We have a commander ask and need a response by 11:00.”

My Russian-speaking, then-uniformed, now-Booz Allen, colleague and I used our commercial research tools to find everything we could in less than an hour. We compiled our findings to identify our gaps and research again to complete the picture for intense review before it went to the four-star general.

In addition to the support and camaraderie of my colleague during a really challenging time, my clearest memory of that day was a youthful U.S. Army private second class who politely asked to look over my shoulder as I worked the issue. 

Those of us who work in the discipline must grow the next generation of OSINT practitioners. A lot can be learned via on-the-job training—a benefit many of my colleagues and I relied on while our OSINT teams found their footing inside tactical and strategic organizations. In a crisis, however, there’s no room for delays caused by dissimilar home-brewed methods. The OSINT community needs industry, the uniformed services, and the federal government to agree on training standards designed to teach people who grew up using social media and smartphones how the internet works from a technical standpoint.

Forums like the OSINT Foundation and the Intelligence and National Security Alliance (INSA) can convene industry and government to discuss training standards. These conversations can build on the public-private partnership that has propelled OSINT technical and tradecraft development. Along the way, it is important to remember why OSINT professionals do what we do.

It has been an honor and privilege to work alongside uniformed, civilian, and contractor personnel, answering tough, time-sensitive questions that inform decisions about when to send American troops into conflict. The direction I once received captures the importance of these missions: “We need eyes on the hot spots for reports of violations of laws of armed conflict. Everything from civilian casualties to sexual assault and genocide. The secretary wants to know.” 

Looking ahead, there will always be a need for analysts with linguistic and regional ability. Individuals who can discern sarcasm in cultural context, understand the nuances of a cognate used to obfuscate a dissident’s true meaning, or place tensions into historical context of thousands of years are irreplaceable. Increasingly, however, analysts also need technical proficiency.

If you are entering the OSINT field, consider learning a coding language that allows you to visualize large quantities of data, or learning how programs, machine learning, natural language processing, and large language models are built so you can field related questions from decision makers. You may find yourself working between developers and intelligence or operational professionals to realize the benefits of artificial intelligence.

Growing in and alongside this discipline has been an immense privilege. So many of my colleagues and I stand ready to tackle the challenges the future may bring.