I. OSINT SOURCES

http://staff.lib.msu.edu/foxre/declass.html

Digital National Security Archives (DNSA) http://nsarchive.chadwyck.com/marketing/index.jsp

Steps to file a Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) request:
http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/Press/information/topic.aspx?topic=how_to_FOIA

National Security Archives at George Washington University
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/

Declassified Secrets Blog
http://declassifiedsecrets.blogspot.com/

U.S. State Department's National Reading Room (Type in "Declassified-?" in the Keyword Search, then your topic of interest)
http://www.state.gov/

These two sources of declassified info were offered by a donor who wishes to remain anonyous: Mr. Morton: I saw these two websites you might find of interest:
Best Wishes! Anonymous:
http://www.airforcehistoryindex.org/

http://www.governmentattic.org/

Ever wonder if you or your relations have files at the FBI or other intelligence agencies? Click on this site and find out!
http://www.getgrandpasfbifile.com/

II. ARTICLES PUBLISHED (PLEASE VISIT DECLASSIFIED SECRETS AT: http://declassifiedsecrets.blogspot.com/

The DECLASSIFIED SECRETS Blog complements this one. A collection of my published columns about the U.S. Intelligence Community can be found there:

http://declassifiedsecrets.blogspot.com/

III. TWO WEBSITES OF POSSIBLE INTEREST TO THE IC

I thought I’d share two Web Blogs with AFIO members and with the 16 agencies comprising the US Intelligence Community (IC). One is called “DECLASSIFIED SECRETS” (DS), which lists a dozen Op-Eds and commentaries I’ve written about the IC for Gannett’s North Central Ohio n group and other newpapers over the years. DS has a nice site in the right margin that has daily newspaper headlines about the U.S. intelligence community. Sometimes, I get up to 15 headlines in one day covering the CIA, NRO, NSA, etc., from different newspapers across America and the world. A good way to keep updated in an instant!

The second WebBlog is this one you're now viewing: “OSINT DAILY NEWS.” It offers my attempts at obtaining open source intelligence data (OSINT) for my writings: a spy novel and newspaper Op-Eds and commentaries. It is still under construction but may be a nice resource for IC personnel, writers and teachers. In the right margin of OSINT DAILY NEWS are various “spy tools” that may be of some interest. I’m sure the CIA, NSA, NRO, etc. have much better programs installed in their computers, but these tools may be worth looking at. Perhaps, they will spawn some creative ideas!

In this OSINT DAILY NEWS Blog, which you are now viewing, look over at the top section of the right-hand margin. It's devoted to intelligence craft tools, while under that is a section devoted to foreign intelligence services (Still under construction). I am cross-referencing each country with its formal foreign intelligence service(s), then with newspaper articles containing these formal names (updated daily). So, case officers, agents, intelligence scholars, or writers of the spy novel genre can look up a particular country, say Estonia, and listed underneath will be today’s newspaper headlines about the Estonia Security Police Board (Kaitsepolitseiamet, KAPO) and Estonia’s Military Intelligence (MID) found in newspapers in the U.S. and world. Here's the Web addresses of both sites:

DECLASSIFIED SECRETS- http://declassifiedsecrets.blogspot.com/

OSINT DAILY NEWS- http://osintdaily.blogspot.com/ (You are now viewing)

I thought these two internet sites may be of interest to AFIO members,

intelligence professors and scholars, writers of spy novels, newspaper editors and to the intelligence community. For the good of the order!

Robert Morton

Member: Association of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO)

IV. THE HOW? WHERE? FROM WHO? OSINT DAILY NEWS GATHERS ARTICLE INFORMATION.

OSINT NEWS

Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) is a discipline all within itself. It definitely does not involve cloak & dagger, covert collection of classified data. The purpose of this Blog site is for me to sharpen my skills to overtly acquire information from public sources. Why? Because I’m writing a spy novel and desire to make it as detailed as possible- a reality-fiction genre. Also, I write newspaper commentaries and Op-eds that give credit to the U.S. intelligence community and always deliver an upbeat message about the 16 agencies comprising the misunderstood and speciously maligned IC. I often wish columnists and TV anchors would forge their flimsy and negative reports about the IC with the disciplined approach that CIA analysts follow to forge their IE’s. Through mathematics and logic, the analysts' methodical and reasoned conclusions on geopolitical matters are the closest to the truth. It is the most systematic process I know of: gathering intelligence, analyzing the raw data, validating the reliability of the sources, then forming a logical, concluding depiction of the truth for our policy makers to read and accept...or reject!

And open-source intelligence is an important element in this process. My open-source sources are wide open for all to see! Intelligence professionals say that OSINT is “the source of first resort” for the IC to use. OSINT data can definitely support covert collection priorities in the intelligence world, even make them easier and less expensive to carry out. Apposite OSINT can quickly enlighten case officers in “real time” of the shifting cultural, economic, military, political and social nuances in unstable foreign regions and to empower them to verify a foreign asset’s candor and to form the right questions to ask him/her. OSINT can be integrated with classified INT’s.

I humbly offer these sources to the intelligence community (IC) even though I’m sure they have open-source software installed in their computers. OSINT = Inspecting, exploring, studying, listening to, attending, researching and investigating: foreign newspapers - professional journals - magazines - radio stations - television - newspaper forums- Wikis/P2Psharing/Blogosphere/Blackberries-MySpace - Wikipedia - deli.icio.us -Amazon.com - contracts awarded - professional conferences & symposia - professional associations - academic papers…the list of OSINT sources is endless.

It's surprising what can be easily found in the newspapers, like this funeral annoucement for Dr. Frank Olson (photo above).

I also read through the site: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/intel/RL34270.pdf, entitled CRS Report to Congress entitled Open Source Intelligence: Issues For Congress (December 5, 2007, Order Code: RL34270). Much OSINT knowledge was gleaned from this document. The CRS report summary (pgs. 24-25) mentions that OSINT was slighted in the past by the intelligence community (IC), but the consensus has changed rapidly. Thus, the IC created the Assistant Director for National Intelligence for Open Source and the National Open Source Center.

Testimony of the Honorable Lee H. Hamilton
Before the Senate Select Committee, House Permanent Select Committee on IntelligenceJoint Inquiry into events surrounding September 11
October 3, 2002 (Hamilton, second from left):

“We need to make greater use of open-source information.
We need to develop a better understanding of foreign cultures and religions. Our intelligence agencies need to make greater use of newspapers, periodicals, satellite television, radio transmissions, Internet web sites, books, pamphlets, and religious tracts that will alert us to broad trends and patterns that are developing around the world.”

The Honorable Lee H. Hamilton went on to say, “For years, the open-media and educational institutions in parts of the Islamic world indicated the growing level of hatred and commitment to violence against the United States. We need to pay closer attention to what the rest of the world is saying about us.”