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Zusatztext This is a wonderful book. It is what it says it is - a study of the history of open source intelligence analysis in the United States since the Second World War - but it is much more, all in the clean, understated prose of an intelligence professional. It is also a delightfully clear description of the developments in information technology that are reshaping intelligence - along with everything else. Olcott's particular focus is the "Gutenberg parenthesis" now ending, those few centuries in which a limited number of authoritative sources dominated the production of information. Now, anyone can produce "information" and what gets the attention - goes viral - may have little relation to what is "true." Olcott's third subject is intelligence analysis more generally, for if there was a Gutenberg parenthesis, so too was there a "Cold War parenthesis," a period when the problem for intelligence was too little information and the response was to try to add value through secrets. Now, the world is awash with "stuff," if not information, and the task is less to discern the truth (as in the passage from John 8.32 etched in the lobby of CIA headquarters) than to identify what is or could be important in moving people to act. For that task, there is no better touchstone than Olcott's repeated theme: "Begin with a question." - Gregory F. Treverton, Director, Center for Global Risk and Security, RAND Corporation, USA and Visiting Fellow, Centre for Asymmetric Threat Studies, Swedish National Defence College. Informationen zum Autor Anthony Olcott is a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of Intelligence, and was Officer in Residence at Georgetown University's Institute for the Study of Diplomacy. While at the Director of National Intelligence's Open Source Center, he served as Senior Analyst in the Emerging Media Group, and also as an Expert Analyst covering Russia and Central Asia. Olcott has received numerous awards and citations from the intelligence community. Vorwort The book explains how openly available information is undervalued by the intelligence community and how analysts can use of this huge amount of information. Zusammenfassung The amount of publicly and often freely available information is staggering. Yet, the intelligence community still continues to collect and use information in the same manner as during WWII, when the OSS set out to learn as much as possible about Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan by scrutinizing encyclopedias, guide books, and short-wave radio. Today, the supply of information is greater than any possible demand, and anyone can provide information. In effect, intelligence analysts are drowning in information. The book explains how to navigate this rising flood and make best use of these new, rich sources of information. Written by a pioneer in the field, it explores the potential uses of digitized data and the impact of the new means of creating and transmitting data, recommending to the intelligence community new ways of collecting and processing information. This comprehensive overview of the world of open source intelligence will appeal not only to practitioners and students of intelligence, but also to anyone interested in communication and the challenges posed by the information age. Inhaltsverzeichnis Foreword Part I: When "Information Retrieval System" Meant the Memory of the Oldest Employee Chapter One: The Screwballs of K Street and the Four-Eyes Brigade Chapter Two: Intelligence Analysis and Open Sources - The Early Days Chapter Three: "Not Indigestion But Gluttony Part II: The "Information Iceberg" Tips Over Chapter Four - Collecting Puzzle Pieces While Mysteries Abound Chapter Five: Six Qualities of Information... Chapter Six: So What? Addressing the Signal-to-Noise Problem Part III: So What Now? Chapter Seven...
