Crowdsourced Intelligence (Crosint): Using Crowds for National Security

ABSTRACT

Crowdsourcing’s special role in the formulation and implementation of national security policies, has led some to speculate on the extent to which crowdsourcing is an intelligence discipline, alongside the five “traditional” disciplines. This article argues that crowdsourcing is a unique discipline – Crowdsourced Intelligence (CROSINT) – that does not fully overlap with any of the other disciplines. It combines the human dimension of HUMINT and the visible dimension of OSINT, but involves approaching a large number of people broadly and publicly to provide information that could be sensitive but not classified.

RESUMEN

El papel especial del crowdsourcing en la formulación e implementación de políticas de seguridad nacional ha llevado a algunos a especular sobre el grado en que el crowdsourcing es una disciplina de inteligencia, junto con las cinco disciplinas “tradicionales”. Este artículo argumenta que el crowdsourcing es una disciplina única, la Inteligencia Crowdsourced (CROSINT), que no se solapa completamente con ninguna de las otras disciplinas. Combina la dimensión humana de HUMINT y la dimensión visible de OSINT, pero implica acercarse a un gran número de personas de manera amplia y pública para proporcionar información que podría ser sensible pero no clasificada.

KEYWORDS:

• Crowdsourcing
• analysis
• biases
• discipline
• innovation
• policy

PALABRAS CLAVE:

• Crowdsourcing
• anílisis
• sesgos
• disciplina
• innovación
• política

Notes

1. An earlier version of this section can be found in Hershkovitz (2018).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Shay Herhkovitz

Dr. Shay Herhkovitz is a Senior Research Fellow at The Intelligence Methodology Research Center (IMRC). He was an adjunct professor at Tel-Aviv and Bar-Ilan universities, were he focused on intelligence studies, middle eastern geopolitics and advanced research methodologies. Shay has a BA in middle-Eastern studies, and an MA and PhD in political science, were he focused on political theory. He is the author of the book “Aman comes to Light the Israeli intelligence in the 50s”, as well as dozens of other academic articles. He also writes regularly to various media outlets in the US and elsewhere.