US Spies Lag Rivals in Gathering Data That is Concealed From Plain Sight

As the alarms start to go off globally about the spread of the covid virus in China, official authorities in Washington are now concerned about the threat the virus may pose in America. In regards to this, they have turned to U.S. intelligence for insight.

Although, according to a recent congressional review of classified reports from December 2019 and January 2020, the most prevalent early warnings did not come from spies or intercepts. Instead, officials relied on citizen journalists, reporting public, and diplomatic cables, as well as analysis from medical professionals – some instances of the so-called open-source intelligence (OSINT).

Predicting the next potential pandemic or the next government to fall will require better utilization of open-source materials, the review noted.

In a review conducted by Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee, the authors wrote, “There is little indication that the Intelligence Community’s exquisite collection capabilities were generating information that was valuable to policymakers.”

This echoes what numerous current and former intelligence officials are increasingly alerting of, i.e. As opponents like China boost their efforts, the $90 billion U.S. spy infrastructure is falling behind because it has not embraced gathering open-source intelligence.