By Toni Ervianto.
Many intelligence practioners, senior agent and an intelligence academia have been predicting that the influx of information during revolution 4.0 and digitalization era can make strategic decision making process will more complex and overlapping because in this era several state actors and non state actors will try to intervere strategic decision process. Regarding this facts, the sources of open sources intelligence will complete, biased, having certain interest values including hoaxes.
These situations will make operational intelligence officer and analyst officer do not have enough time to select it so the process of making intelligence report could bias and error. Because of that, open sources intelligence from credible, professional and accountable sources have needed for both operational and analyst intelligence officers due to their making strategic and urgent reports. The shape of global landscape, global geopolitics and geostrategies have changed because many of driving forces which are coming from defence, social, economic, law, social, science, environment will occur and it has brought through open sources.
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Believing open sources without checking it is not true way but checking and crosscheck open sources must be done with comparing it with another credible sources. However collecting, checking and making reports based on open sources intelligence is needed more attention and detail concentration. Being admit or not, in the current days, open source has come more faster and complete than an intelligence sources but many intelligence officers have believe in their norms and values that an fast, exact and trusted intelligence sources will more valuable than open sources if these collecting information based on planted agent and well-trained field agent officers plus qualified and trusted networking.
Practically and usually, open sources intelkigence is one of sources regarding decision making and reporting, but it must be firstly checked because many deception, hoaxes, double standard information, bigotry, and hate speech which are also containing on open source including social media. So, using open sources intelligence for making strategic decision is not final choices, and it will be important if empowering intelligence networking including using planted agents must be created, done and maintained. Finally the best of open source intelligence is not equal to compare with an intelligence which it has gathered and collected through professional intelligence process.
The writer had earned his master at strategic intelligence assessment program at the University of Indonesia (UI)
