Ep. 216 Let us look at Open-Source Intelligence

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In spy movies, the federal government has unlimited funds for intelligence. In fact, it is always at its fingertips, no matter where it is located. Would it be so?

In the real world, agencies have budgets that limit their ability to do everything from reducing fraud to ensuring the safety of a supply chain.

One way to leverage the funds allocated for this task is to use Open-Source Intelligence or OSINT.

During today’s interview, Jason English from Babel Street shares his thoughts on how OSINT should be a part of the matrix where federal agencies can get practical intelligence.

He starts by defining OSINT, which includes search engines, social media, public relations, news sources, web scraping, data analysis, and, yes, the dark web.

This information is freely available to everyone, which gives it distinctive advantages. First, classified information can be costly to obtain. Rather than limiting your information sources to one area, OSINT will provide a much wider range of sources quickly.

Further, transparency is becoming a more prominent theme in technology—by definition, one can review the origin of any piece of information to assure its veracity.

When it comes to collecting, analyzing, and disseminating information, OSINT provides benefits that answer many of today’s federal agency requirements.