A-Infos (en) Spy Conference in Washington DC

[A-Infos Canada <ainfos@tao.ca>]

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   International Spies And Analysts Define New Model For Intelligence: 

  Global Intelligence Forum Brings Together Twenty-Three Countries Including
                       Saudi Arabia, Japan, And Israel

    WASHINGTON, May 23 /PRNewswire/ --  The TV crews are gone and there are no
longer any quiet clusters of hardened intelligence professionals in the
corners of this hotel on the out-skirts of Washington, D.C., but international
intelligence will never be the same.  Over five hundred international spies
and intelligence analysts, including representatives from Saudi Arabia and
Japan as well as Israel, mixed easily with their U.S. counterparts to discuss
a new model for intelligence.  Sponsored by OSS Inc. from May 17-21 1998, the
event included discussions of pricing, source validation, asymmetric warfare,
intelligence priorities, and support for civil-military operations.  One
observer remarked: "I've never, ever, seen spies discussing their business
this openly, and this may be for the best-they finally seem to understand that
it must be run as a business, and not a boy's club."
    All agreed that spies and satellites are still needed, but should be more
focused-the new model for national intelligence places open sources-sources
that can be acquired legally and at low cost-in the forefront.  Open sources
can also be shared with the people, the press, and parliament, as well as
non-aligned states and non-state actor groups; and open sources reduce the
burden on very risky and expensive "closed sources" that can then do more
against "the hard targets" such as proliferation, terrorism, and transnational
drug dealers.  Dr. Mark Lowenthal, partner in OSS Inc. was careful to note
that this does not mean intelligence community budgets should be cut-the "hard
stuff" is very expensive-but rather than within the existing budgets, there
should be a modest realignment to permit open sources to optimize the
all-source collection and production mix.
    Conference highlights included an opening keynote by Mr. Douglas Dearth,
dean of the intelligence educators in Washington, whose sharp remarks on the
need to accept the commoditization and "market-pricing" of intelligence drew
quiet gasps from all those accustomed to having an annual fixed budget and no
formal evaluation of the utility of their products.  Mr. Dearth's critical
comments on the American tendency to buy technology and meet payroll, rather
than buy information and produce results, were articulate and to the point and
bring back into the dialogue important ideas first raised by the Schleisinger
Report in 1971.
    A number of prominent international technology leaders joined in the
argument, with two lines of discussion.  Those with deep private sector
experience, such as Mr. Stephen Arnold, President of Arnold Information
Technologies, pointed to the dramatic growth of private sector capabilities,
and assured the international audience of spies and analysts that they could
and should rely on the private sector to do vastly more open source collection
and processing without themselves having to invest in technology.  Others,
such as Mr. Michael Hunter, CEO of i2 Ltd., offered dramatic multi-media
presentations on how private sector technologies for processing secret
information, including offerings from i2, MEMEX, Excalibur, and Calspan, would
lead to an order of magnitude increase in the amount of usable intelligence
which could be derived from all-source information.
    Other conference highlights included presentations from the Mr. Alan Fry,
Director of Intelligence for Scotland Yard, and Mr. Eddi Thompson, former
director of intelligence for Euro '96, on the utility of open source
intelligence to support law enforcement, both at the strategic level against
transnational threats including drugs and financial crime; and at the tactical
level where a combination of open sources, closed sources, and processing
tools have created a new form of "intelligence-led policing" that is sweeping
the continent of Europe and beginning to appear in Asia.
    Although the conference did not end until the international "job fair" on
the last day, the "big bang" came mid-way through the event when Mr. Linda
Mti, Coordinator of Intelligence for all South African intelligence agencies
(described in the South African press as the South African "spy chief"),
offered a thoughtful and candid assessment of the differences between the
intelligence models of the developed and the developing worlds.
To absolute silence and careful attention from this international audience of
intelligence professionals, Mr. Mti's presentation could be taken as the true
"keynote" of the entire event.  Among his key points:

    -- Developing world intelligence professionals must understand but not
    necessarily adopt the practices and perspectives of developed world
    intelligence communities-the latter are often too expensive, too
    Euro-centric or America-centric, and place no importance on sustainable
    development and other issues critical to South African and other
    non-aligned nations.

    -- Within the developing world especially, but also within the developed
    world, the concept of national security must shift away from a narrow
    focus on military defense, and grow to encompass more complex threats
    including threats to sustainable development and cultural integrity.

    -- "Open sources" as understood in the developed world do not exist in
    Africa.  There is a critical need for creating an African Information
    Infrastructure for the continent, but on African terms, and with a
    commitment to respecting Africa's unique reliance on off-line sources,
    human observation, and cultural contexts for information both entering and
    departing the continent.

    Mr. Robert Steele, organizer of the conference and a veteran of the U.S.
national and defense intelligence communities who has consulted to eighteen
other governments, summed up Mr. Mti's capstone presentation by saying:
"He's on the mark, and we are delighted to have a distinguished international
intelligence leader establish new standards of focus and performance.  Despite
the Commission on Intelligence and IC21 findings, change is still coming very
slowly.  Mr. Mti's focus on acting now, on considering the possibility that
the 21st Century may be the century of African renewal rather than the century
of American complacence, is a useful wake-up call for all of us."

    OSS Inc., founded in 1992 to advocate intelligence reform and increased
use of open sources in support of all-source intelligence, manages a series of
global and regional intelligence forums while also offering direct open source
intelligence support to governments and corporations.  Its principals include,
in addition to Mr. Steele, The Honorable John Bohn, former CEO of Moody's
Investors Service and former President of the Export-Import Bank; Dr. Mark
Lowenthal, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence
(Functional Analysis) and former Staff Director of the House Permanent Select
Committee on Intelligence; and Mr. Jan Herring, founder of the business
intelligence community in the United States, and specifically of the
Nutra-Sweet, Monsanto, Ford, GM, Philipps Petroleum, and other business
intelligence units regarded as "best in class".


    SOURCE Open Source Solutions
    CONTACT: Robert Steele, 703-242-1701, or bear@oss.net
    Web Site: http://www.oss.net
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