Determining the Value of Open-Source Intelligence for Public Safety

The intent of this work is to determine the regard to which open-source intelligence (OSINT) is an effective tool for emergency management, especially in relation to public safety. This work seeks to accomplish this through meeting the following objectives: (1) examining OSINT from a public safety perspective, (2) identifying potential challenges and barriers that may limit an analyst’s use of OSINT tools and techniques; (3) exploring the changing nature of threats to national security and identifying how OSINT may provide a direct means of assisting with mitigation, prevention, preparation, response, and recovery; and, (4) by understanding how government analysts are training in OSINT collection and methodologies. The methodological approach to this research is qualitative in nature, focusing on case studies, tool exploration, and Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) requests. Although the results of this work concluded that OSINT can be regarded as an effective tool in maintaining public safety, it also raised concerns regarding legislation, policy, training, and technical infrastructure that must be addressed if OSINT were to remain effective. All this in consideration, the results of this work were impacted by limitations in access to information. Given the sensitive nature of some collection procedures and the overstrained ATIP request portal, a number of documents were not made available for evaluation and analysis - likely a result of classification level, security requirements, or the overall time it takes for ATIP coordinators to make these documents available for public disclosure. Moreover, in consideration to the results of this work, two main recommendations were provided: (1) Legislation & Policy: clarification of legislation, effective policy development, ongoing communication, and oversight; and (2) Training & Technical Infrastructure: establish clear OSINT tiers, establish mandatory training plans, and establish standardized methods to account for attribution. Together, these two recommendations can further strengthen the OSINT capability as a whole and ensure that it continues to be an effective tool for public safety.