There’s So Much Data Even Spies Are Struggling to Find Secrets
Scouring open-source intelligence may not have the same cachet as undercover work, but it’s become a new priority for the US intelligence agencies.
Open-source intelligence, such as this satellite image of Yelnya, Russia, from December 2021, helped the US government convince the public that its warnings about Russia’s plans to invade Ukraine were credible.
Source: Planet LabsSpying used to be all about secrets. Increasingly, it’s about what’s hiding in plain sight.
A staggering amount of data, from Facebook posts and YouTube clips to location pings from mobile phones and car apps, sits in the open internet, available to anyone who looks. US intelligence agencies have struggled for years to tap into such data, which they refer to as open-source intelligence, or OSINT. But that’s starting to change.