This course examines the history of open source information collection (OSINT), techniques and ethical issues for collection of publicly available information, validation of sources, and the Structured Analytic Techniques for Intelligence Analysis applied to the collected data in order to produce an intelligence report that will satisfy the requirements for information that arises within law enforcement and homeland security environments.  

In this course, you will examine how publicly available information to include personal identifiable information (PII), social media applications, internet of things (IoT) devices, birth and death records, and an endless stream of data can possibly be used for criminal and/or terrorist activities. The course objective will be to understand the “security vs. privacy” dilemma, combined with challenges law enforcement (LE) and Homeland Security (HSEC) partners face in acquiring such information for investigation purposes. The course will also discuss the importance of information sharing and fusing resources, analytical techniques, combined with publicly available information to understand how valuable real-time information is a resource to LE and the HSEC enterprise. This class will involve intensive study in specific areas of HSEC on themes such as open- source intelligence (OSINT), human source intelligence (HUMINT), geospatial intelligence (GEOINT), social media intelligence (SOCMINT), geographical information systems (GIS), domestic and international law and security, and privacy and security. The course will help students explore and exploit information vulnerabilities for mock domestic extremist HSEC targets and involve a “How Vulnerable is My Target” study to classify and rate the target’s efforts to prevent detection. There is also a unique opportunity to examine one's own "Digital Footprint" and explore ways to mitigate their online exposure.