The Missing Dimension of Intelligence

For one year CSIS, with the help of a high level advisory group, examined how best to bring additional "outside" expertise and information into the wider counterterrorism campaign. Project co-Investigators Arnaud de Borchgrave and Tom Sanderson interviewed more than 170 specialists from numerous disciplines, as well as current and former intelligence, law enforcement and other government officials in North America, Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. After two important conferences in Europe – one in which an array of experienced individuals "tested" a model for sharing terrorism-relevant information – the project concluded that new and aggressive approaches were needed to better exploit open source information and to engage expertise the world over. Read more about the report, Open Source Information: The Missing Dimension of Intelligence.

CSIS has now organized a unique effort which, in conjunction with our international partners and others will conduct, and then offer as a template, a working model for significantly enhanced information sharing on counterterrorism. The heart of this is the open source information-- individual perspectives, insight and context--generated and shared in the CSIS Trusted Information Network (TIN).