Get off your OSINT and get out there

Today The Independent has a front page story about the actual people abused in the recent British Iraq scandal (They haven't published it on their website yet, as the final sentences against the soldiers is being put forth only today in Germany). The UK Military Police said they couldn't find the victims of the abuse and therefore these crucial witnesses haven't been used in the trial. Kim Sengupta, Independent's star reporter in Iraq, said he found the men in 48 hours.

This is, I think, an illustration of how military systems could be enriched by journalistic methods and personas.

Whether the MPs really REALLY tried hard or not, it seems to me that journalism has got some procedures (such as always wanting to show the victim) and an aura that proves it a very effective tool for critical OSINF gathering. Of course there are plenty of examples of journalists turning spies, and examples of how the two professions are related.

But the point here is that journalism in essence is radically truth- and change-seeking in a more or less partisan way (good journalism, that is).

This involvement and to a certain degree, partisanship is the driving force for getting relevant, timely and high-grade OSINF. Intelligence services could learn something from that it seems to me.