Using Open-Source Information Effectively
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USING OPEN-SOURCE INFORMATION EFFECTIVELY HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE, INFORMATION SHARING, AND TERRORISM RISK ASSESSMENT OF THE COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION JUNE 21, 2005 Serial No. 109–22 Printed for the use of the Committee on Homeland Security Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/index.html U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 24–962 PDF WASHINGTON : 2007 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402–0001 COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY CHRISTOPHER COX, California, Chairman DON YOUNG, Alaska BENNIE G. THOMPSON, Mississippi LAMAR S. SMITH, Texas LORETTA SANCHEZ, California CURT WELDON, Pennsylvania, Vice Chairman EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts CHRISTOPHER SHAYS, Connecticut NORMAN D. DICKS, Washington PETER T. KING, New York JANE HARMAN, California JOHN LINDER, Georgia PETER A. DEFAZIO, Oregon MARK E. SOUDER, Indiana NITA M. LOWEY, New York TOM DAVIS, Virginia ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of DANIEL E. LUNGREN, California Columbia JIM GIBBONS, Nevada ZOE LOFGREN, California ROB SIMMONS, Connecticut SHEILA JACKSON-LEE, Texas MIKE ROGERS, Alabama BILL PASCRELL, JR., New Jersey STEVAN PEARCE, New Mexico DONNA M. CHRISTENSEN, U.S. Virgin Islands KATHERINE HARRIS, Florida BOB ETHERIDGE, North Carolina BOBBY JINDAL, Louisiana JAMES R. LANGEVIN, Rhode Island DAVE G. REICHERT, Washington KENDRICK B. MEEK, Florida MICHAEL MCCAUL, Texas CHARLIE DENT, Pennsylvania SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE, INFORMATION SHARING, AND TERRORISM RISK ASSESSMENT ROB SIMMONS, Connecticut, Chairman CURT WELDON, Pennsylvania ZOE LOFGREN, California PETER T. KING, New York LORETTA SANCHEZ, California MARK E. SOUDER, Indiana JANE HARMAN, California DANIEL E. LUNGREN, California NITA M. LOWEY, New York JIM GIBBONS, Nevada SHEILA JACKSON-LEE, Texas STEVAN PEARCE, New Mexico BOB ETHERIDGE, North Carolina BOBBY JINDAL, Louisiana JAMES R. LANGEVIN, Rhode Island DAVE G. REICHERT, Washington KENDRICK B. MEEK, Florida CHARLIE DENT, Pennsylvania BENNIE G. THOMPSON, Mississippi (Ex Officio) CHRISTOPHER COX, California (Ex Officio) (II) C O N T E N T S Page STATEMENTS The Honorable Rob Simmons, a Representative in Congress From the State of Connecticut, and Chairman, Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing, and Terrorism Risk Assessment .......................................................... 1 The Honorable Zoe Lofgren, a Representative in Congress From the State of California, and Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing, and Terrorism Risk Assessment .................................... 23 The Honorable Christopher Cox, a Representative in Congress From the State of California, and Chairman, Committee on Homeland Security .......... 3 The Honorable Bennie G. Thompson, a Representative in Congress From the State of Mississippi, and Ranking Member, Committee on Homeland Security ................................................................................................................. 4 The Honorable Charlie Dent, a Representative in Congress From the State of Pennsylvania .................................................................................................... 31 The Honorable Bob Etheridge, a Representative in Congress From the State of North Carolina ................................................................................................. 30 The Honorable Jane Harman, a Representative in Congress From the State California .............................................................................................................. 39 The Honorable James R. Langevin, a Representative in Congress From the State of Rhode Island ........................................................................................... 33 The Honorable Daniel E. Lungren, a Representative in Congress From the State of California ................................................................................................ 28 The Honorable Loretta Sanchez, a Representative in Congress From the State of California ................................................................................................ 37 The Honorable Curt Weldon, a Representative in Congress From the State of Pennsylvania .................................................................................................... 35 WITNESSES Dr. John C. Gannon, Vice President for Global Analysis. BAE Systems, Information Technology: Oral Statement ..................................................................................................... 5 Prepared Statement ............................................................................................. 8 Mr. Eliot Jardines, President, Open Source Publishing, Inc.: Oral Statement ..................................................................................................... 11 Prepared Statement ............................................................................................. 13 Mr. Joe Onek, Senior Policy Analyst, Open Society Institute: Oral Statement ..................................................................................................... 18 Prepared Statement ............................................................................................. 18 FOR THE RECORD Prepared Statement of the Honorable Sheila Jackson-Lee, a Representative in Congress From the State of Texas ................................................................. 40 (III) USING OPEN-SOURCE INFORMATION EFFECTIVELY Tuesday, June 21, 2005 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY, SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE, INFORMATION SHARING, AND TERRORISM RISK ASSESSMENT, Washington, DC. The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:10 a.m., in Room 210, Cannon House Office Building, Hon. Rob Simmons [chairman of the subcommittee] presiding. Present: Representatives Simmons, Cox, Weldon, Lungren, Pearce, Dent, Thompson, Lofgren, Sanchez, Harman, Jackson Lee, Etheridge, Langevin, and Meek. Mr. SIMMONS. [Presiding.] The Subcommittee on Intelligence, In- formation Sharing, and Terrorism Risk Assessment of the Com- mittee on Homeland Security will come to order. Today, the subcommittee meets to examine how open-source in- formation can most effectively be used to help strengthen the De- partment of Homeland Security’s information analysis and intel- ligence production responsibilities. Open-source information, by its very nature, is unclassified, pub- licly available information that any member of the public can law- fully obtain. Open-source information may be used in an unclassi- fied context without compromising national security or intelligence sources and methods, thereby lending itself to the Department of Homeland Security’s mission to share information with state, local and tribal governments and private sector personnel, many of whom do not hold security clearances. Open-source intelligence, or OSINT, is produced from open- source information, can help to inform the Department of Home- land Security’s partners and customers. For example, DHS on a daily basis produces the open-source infrastructure report to crit- ical infrastructure owners and operators. And while this report is limited in scope and sources, it is an effective way to help ensure that critical partners on the same page with regard to threat and vulnerability information. I believe that the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. government need to do more to create open-source products and in- tegrate open-source information into the DHS analytical product. Both the 9/11 Commission and the WMD Commission recognized this in their reports, and each recommended that more be done with open sources. (1) 2 Open-source information can be the critical foundation for the all-source intelligence product, a key to ensuring that our intel- ligence efforts are well-targeted and our intelligence analysis is well-informed across the board. In a rapidly changing post-9/11 world, intelligence collection and analysis must be flexible enough to respond quickly to meet the de- mands of intelligence users. Open-source material is collected and reported continuously around the world. It is current and readily available. A comprehensive open-source capability provides the tools to find that information quickly and cheaply in a format that is unclassified and easily shared. This can be an important tool in defending the homeland. We are pleased to have with us today three witnesses. The first is Dr. John Gannon, who currently serves as vice presi- dent for Global Analysis at BAE Systems, Information Technology. Dr. Gannon joined BAE Systems after serving as Staff Director of the House Homeland Security Committee. In 2002–2003, he was a team leader in the White House Transi- tional Planning Office for the Department of Homeland Security and previously served in the senior most analytical positions in the intelligence community, including chairman of the National Intel- ligence Council and assistant director of Central Intelligence for Analysis and Production. Last year, President Bush awarded him the national security medal, the country’s highest intelligence award. Welcome, Dr. Gannon. Our second witness is Mr. Eliot Jardines, president of Open Source Publishing, Incorporated and former publisher of Open Source Quarterly, a professional journal