OPEN-SOURCE INTELLIGENCE (OSINT). THE WAY AHEAD

Abstract

The technological advances have led to an exponential growth in the amount and complexity of open-source information. The weight of this type of information in the collection base has significantly increased and now we have intelligence services that collect more than 80% of their intelligence from open sources. Therefore, in this article, referring to state-of-the-art technologies in an exhaustive approach, we analyze how the new technologies sustain the intelligence services in their actions for collecting open-source intelligence and increase the efficiency of related processes. Moreover, we analyze how these technologies can supplement and enhance one another throughout the phases of intelligence cycle to render the intelligence services’ activity more efficient. Finally, analyzing the historical progresses, we will foretell what technologies are expected to support OSINT in the next ten years and how they will be integrated into the phases of intelligence cycle, forecasting how OSINT will advance through technological change.

Keywords

• open-source intelligence
• osint
• technological change
• intelligence cycle
• new technologies impact