Director of the Central Intelligence Agency speaks
Introduced by Doug Naquin, Director Hayden announces that secret information is not always the brass ring in the intelligence profession. He mentions that he was an attache in Bulgaria and part of the job is immersing oneself into the society. Reading the press, watching television, making official contacts, gives a sense of the norm and what the sentiment in the area. The key is to know what to look for and be in a position to absorb it. He gives examples of observation opportunities he had in communist Bulgaria.
That experience as an attache has given him an appreciation of what there is to learn from open sources if we are in a position to absorb it. The rich potential and far reach of open source material has finally been embraced.
Identifies the Open Source Center as one of the biggest goals in the past few years for the ODNI and that the decision to build on resources that were already ther in the Foreign Broadcast Information Service was the right choice. The OSC has broadened their role as community leader in open source tradecraft. It was designed to be a facilitator for the open source enterprise itself. Gen Hayden decided that the OSC Chief should report directly to him, on the same level as the DI and Chief of the NCS.
Talks about addressing questions that are sensitive in nature. The information is classified, the interest in it is not. Open source is cited in the President’s daily brief, including some that are in whole open source in nature and carry the Open Source Center logo. Open source helps us see how others view the world and helps the IC get insight – not information – insight.
Creation of a new community-wide governance board that will change the approach to exploiting information: Open Source Board of Governors. They will use it as a forum to discuss how best to guide open source into the future. The board will meet quarterly and the first session will be before the end of the year.
Explore posts in the same categories: 2008, ConferenceTags: cia, dni, Hayden, odni, open source
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DNI Open Source 
September 13, 2008 at 10:50 am
Very interesting presentation where he connected with the audience, answered questions, and received a partial standing ovation. A true champion of open source.
September 30, 2008 at 12:50 am
That’s all well and good, but hopefully the Director will not forget that good intelligence of that nature comes free with good case officers–like butter on popcorn at the movies.