US Intelligence Community Shares Plans to Strengthen OSINT Use

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Central Intelligence Agency have laid down plans to strengthen open source intelligence as a core intelligence discipline and help the United States intelligence community make the most of it.

Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, a past Potomac Officers Club event speaker and 2024 Wash100 winner, said that the IC Open Source Intelligence Strategy for 2024-2026 is the beginning of a long-term process aimed at professionalizing the OSINT discipline while transforming intelligence analysis and production.

The strategy will focus on four areas, including coordinating open source data acquisition and expansion of sharing, creating integrated open source collection management and developing the next-generation OSINT workforce, the ODNI said.

William J. Burns, director of the Central Intelligence Agency and a Wash100 awardee, said the release of the strategy helps the IC move forward in a coordinated manner.

Due to the growing threat from China, the federal government has been doubling its efforts to ensure it remains the global leader in emerging technologies. In February, the ODNI hired Jason Barrett to help with developing OSINT gathering capabilities and to help the agency make the most of generative AI tools.