The National Press and OSINT

The National Press and OSINT Michael Lee INTL 502 Collection DR. Patrick Barton “A cynical, mercenary, demagogic press will in time produce a people as base as itself.” ~Jospeh Pulitzer During this course we analyzed a number of topics involved in intelligence collection and the key role it plays in the intelligence cycle. We discussed the various collection disciplines; signal intelligence (SIGINT), measurement and signature intelligence (MASINT), imagery intelligence (IMINT), human intelligence (HUMINT), open source intelligence (OSINT), and geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) which are used to protect our nation by building databases on possible threats. Once the hierarchal issues are identified and addressed by which pose the greatest threat to our sovereignty, our INTs can focus their resources on the most important target. We touched on legacy systems of various INTs and discovered what could be improved and how we are striving toward future advancements. We studied how laws of this country have been amended, switched or construed to give a different interpretation, depending on who was in power and the events during that period. This final assessment is going to attempt to identify whether our national press is a hindrance to, or asset of, our ability and/or effectiveness to collect intelligence using open source intelligence (OSINT). This is a difficult topic to explore because our national press can be both, a hindrance and an asset to our intelligence collection; it has in the past and plausibly into the future. The media is perhaps the best resource for open source information, mainly because it is their purpose to disseminate that type of information. Thought not a scholarly resource, “Time Magazine” published an interesting compilation focusing on various secret agencies (Time 2013). An article entitled “The Informers” by Michael Scherer (Time, 70) discusses the unauthorized access by Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden to sensitive information and disseminating it to Wikileaks and the Guardian. He does not present them as a threat to national security, but as a new breed of hackers who are not in the secret stealing business for money, but for idealism. These idealists feel that information should be available to the public no matter what, thus getting protected information out into the open and to media outlets. This protected information then becomes OSINT, which our targets access and discover we are watching them. This, of course, leads to a shutdown of our previous access and opens us to attack. This is how the news press becomes a hindrance to our intelligence collection, by releasing information that is known to be adverse to our national protection. Counter this hindrance with an example of the reporting done by imbedded journalists. These reports and articles typically produced positive news stories. During the Iraq War, the imbedded journalist reported as the fighting was going on around them. They were able to present our troops as heroes and what they actual had to deal with in the war (Fahmy, 2007, 98). This author believes it was the key ingredient in the continued support of our troops back home. There is a love/ hate relationship between the press and the military (Fahmy, 2007, 98) but this may also transcend to other government agencies. The press wants to support and protect our national security, but at the same time wants the truth to be known. When documents from WWII, the Cold War, the fall of communism and other reports were declassified, the mass press was one of the main bodies interested in the information. They helped unmask some of the “cloak and dagger” beliefs held by the people (Munteanu, 2012, 265). This new found information was published so many people could see the results, it may not have changed their minds, but it may have opened doors for further investigations and possibly developed a better understanding of what truly happened. Since the main objective of the press is to print news and information, it is one of the main sources which disseminates open source information when put together could develop into OSINT. As we learned OSINT is information available to the general public which can be accessed lawfully by anyone through request, purchase, or observation. It is overt and gathered through non-clandestine sources and/ or means (Crowe 2009, 2). This is also known as the “grey intersection”, where classified information meets unclassified information which could lead to the production of sensitive intelligence. Once the information is gathered, processed and evaluated, it is not a far reach to transform this sensitive intelligence into OSINT (FAS, 1996). The press may, wittingly or unwittingly, put this information together and discover the true nature of the issues. Because of this direct connection between the press and OSINT, the ability for the press to swing toward being an asset for intelligence could outweigh the hindrance it causes. There are three roles the news press could take in the intelligence field to become an asset: “as an information transmitter and stimulator for formal scrutinizers, as a substitute watchdog and as a legitimizing institution” (Hillebrand 2012). As an information transmitter and stimulator for formal scrutinizers, the press excels. It is their job to report on information and bring to the forefront possible lapses in good judgment by policy-makers or intelligence agencies. This role exposes the maleficence of those in-charge or involved and delivers the information to the public, to question the legitimacy of those acts. An example of this is the pictures of the mistreated prisoners at Abu Ghraib. Only after CBS posted those pictures was serious actions taken against the soldiers involved (Hillebrand 2012, 696). The press are the entities that have broken many investigations, like NSA operations, CIA secret prisons, and the SWIFT database, which was used to monitor international banking transactions. These breaking news stories brought into public debate the question of the legality of those action and events. A second role that the press could prove to be an asset for intelligence, via OSINT, is acting as a pseudo-watchdog. If an appointed oversight committees cannot or will not audit themselves, mayhap the press will. When an oversight committee fails to follow through, the press is there to keep the topic in the public domain, provoking those who may have crossed the line, to take accountability and responsibility for their actions (Hillebrand 2012, 697). The press can also be an avenue to leak information on topics that are of public interest. It may fulfill a gap in information clearing up or causing a re-evaluation of a previous outcome. Finally in their watchdog role, they can translate reports, interpreting it for the common person, allowing for a better understanding of the findings. While the interpretation may be sensationalized, it is still geared toward the broader and ordinary population. The publication of that information brings the data into the public realm, making it ripe for exploitation through that open source. The press’s final role as an asset to OSINT is that of a legitimizing institution. Two key areas need to be addressed before the press can assist with the approvel of information; those placed in a public relations position must understand how the press works and the press needs to understand the limits of what can and cannot be disclosed (Munteanu, 2012, 273). As has been discussed in previous research, OSINT makes up between 70-80 percent of collected information, much of that was taken from media resources (Hulnick 2002, 565). As long as the press maintains its objectivity, a basic and not insignificant rule, the articles they prepare should not demonstrate any bias other than the truth (Munteanu, 2012, 274). By following this guidance, the information produced can lead to valuable sources of OSINT, however it can also produce denial and deception sources and publish them into the open sources. If the intelligence community builds a good working relationship with the press, they can help us hide our true intents from enemies and rivals. This of course makes the job of validating and verifying OSINT much more difficult. There are limitations of course, in fully allowing the press be a strong asset to the intelligence community, which includes the impact of regulatory frameworks, government secrecy and the press strategies of intelligence services themselves (Hillebrand 2012, 689). The press plays an important role in the wider intelligence landscape, but their ability to consider information is impromptu and skewed, resulting in a picture that may be muddied (Hillebrand 2012, 689). They could become “lapdogs”, which simply means they do not question government and produce poor quality OSINT. This can lead to manipulation by the government by propagandizing a particular view or push a specific agenda in an attempt to gain public support for it. As mentioned above, one of the key limitations is the regulatory or legal framework. Once those boundaries are set, both the press and intelligence community can establish a relationship that is mutually beneficial (Munteanu, 2012, 269). A key piece of legislation is the Bill of Rights upon which our country was established. It states quite clearly: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. (First amendment) However, freedom of the press is limited, based upon certain issues which could threaten the national security. The Freedom of Information Act is another piece of legislation which allows for an exception to this rule. It can grant access to protected documents, giving the public the opportunity to scrutinize the data, whereby getting that information in to open sources. However, those request for information can be denied, again depending on the level of possible damage to our national security. There are formal regulations in place that are case specific which limits the ability for the press to report on information about those topics. Another limitation on the press from fully becoming an asset to collection is government secrecy. Once the word “secret” is spoken, it stimulates the breaking news stories, thus making the issue more popular. If the information gathered through open sources and pieced together creates sensitive information, the government attempts to classify it, which then lessen the transparency of valuable information (Hillebrand 2012, 701). This darkening of information leads the citizen to believe the government may be trying to cover up abuse, corruption or incompetence. This shuts down any discussion on the subject and causes a cascading effect and higher probability of us missing a critical piece of information. It also lowers the accountability by the government for its actions. Because most journalists have an insufficient understanding of intelligence, they rely on government authorities or specialized investigative journalists to explain the data gathered from open sources. We would be remised if the topic of an intelligence services own agenda was not brought up as a limitation on the press’s ability to disseminated open source information. As mentioned earlier, the press’s job is to disseminate information to the widest audience, intelligence agencies need to keep some of its stories under wraps. With the publication of a success, it could jeopardize the lives of those involved in the operation. We would be foolish to believe our enemies and rivals do not scan open source information or published OSINT trying to understand what we are doing. Intelligence agencies want to publish what they want to get out circulating to distract from or build a case for their version of the truth. In closing, the press plays an important role in the political life of contemporary democratic societies due to its inherent position in publishing OSINT. We can assert that the relationship between intelligence agencies and the press is “fluid,” “contradictory,” and “occasionally supportive.”(Mansfield 2010) It is difficult to identify whether our national press is an asset or hindrance to our open source intelligence collection, because it can be both. The press and media is in all countries, each country has a different relationship with them. This essay attempted to show how the press could be a stronger asset in the collection of OSINT by playing three roles. First as an information transmitter and catalyst for investigation this is of course their primer job mode of operation. Secondly they could act as a substitute watchdog, focusing on issues and information which may otherwise be avoided because the formal over watch groups does not want to or cannot get involved it discovering the truth. Finally they can be a legitimizing institution, by creating a sense of trust and sympathy between an organization and its audience. There are of course limitations to the press and its ability to fully take on role of an intelligence asset like laws and regulations, secrecy, and the agenda of the intelligence service. When applied and a good working relationship is developed, the press can be an asset to all collection disciplines. References Crowe, June, and Thomas S. Davidson, II. "The 'Grey' Intersection of Open Source Information and Intelligence." The Grey Journal 10 (February 2009): 82-99. Fahmy, Shahira and Thomas J. Johnson. "Embedded Versus Unilateral Perspectives on Iraq War." Newspaper Research Journal 28, no. 3 (Summer, 2007): 98-114. Federation of American Scientists (FAS). "Intelligence Collection Activities and Disciplines." Operations Security: Intelligence Threat Handbook. Last modified May 1996. Accessed January 28, 2014. Last modified May 1996.. Hillebrand, Claudia. "The Role of News Media in Intelligence Oversight." Intelligence & National Security 27, no. 5 (2012): 689. Hulnick, Arthur S. "The Downside of Open Source Intelligence." International Journal of Intelligence and Counter Intelligence 15, no. 4 (2002): 565-79. Koepp, Stephen, and Neil Fine, eds. America's Secret Agencies, Inside the Covert World of the CIA, NSA, FBI, and Special Ops. New York, NY: Time Books, 2013. Mansfield, Mark. Review of Spinning Intelligence: Why Intelligence Needs the Media, Why the Media Needs Intelligence. Library: Intelligence in Public Literature. Last modified March 29, 2010. Accessed January 25, 2014. https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csistudies/studies/volume-54-number-1/spinning-intelligence-why-intelligence-needsthe.html. Munteanu, Nicoleta Anne-Marie. "Possible Developments in Cooperation Relation Between the Information Structures and Press." National Defense University, 2012.