As much as 80 per cent of the overall intelligence gathered by various agencies comes from open sources. It's no longer dependent on signals, field agents, and informants.
When publicly available information is collected and analysed to produce actionable intelligence, it is known as Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT). The sources for collecting such information are wide-ranging, including, but not limited to, media outlets, social media, commercial satellite imagery, academic and grey literature, commercial aviation and shipping data, as well as the deep and dark web.
With more individuals and organisations actively engaging in digital platforms, the intelligence community found itself with a new and vast resource of publicly available information, allowing analysts to monitor digital resources for gaining insights into strategic and tactical events. In recent years, commercial satellite companies like Planet Labs and Maxar Technologies have launched fleets of high-resolution imaging satellites, making geospatial data publicly available.
Many countries, including the US, the UK, Israel and France, have taken significant steps to institutionalise OSINT within their intelligence and national security frameworks.
Despite its growing importance, the OSINT ecosystem in India remains fragile. No public or private university in India offering courses in Political Science, International Relations (IR), Defence, or Security Studies has included Intelligence Studies in their curricula.
As a result, most Indian students graduate without even a basic understanding of the intelligence framework. Meanwhile, intelligence agencies in the country primarily recruit candidates either through dedicated examinations such as the Intelligence Bureau – Assistant Central Intelligence Officer (IB-ACIO) or by deputing officers from police and defence services, who were originally selected through broader civil or defence examinations
Indian intelligence agencies should establish dedicated OSINT units and allow the lateral entry of experts in the domain. The growing community of self-taught youth on social media platforms should be recognised and harnessed through fellowships and training
by Mohit Vashisth and Nikita Vats
15/04/2025