Hands-On Open Source Intel

3 Credits · Level: Graduate

From nuclear deterrence to climate change, open-source intelligence is reshaping the conduct of foreign policy and security studies. This hands-on course introduces students to publicly available data sources, online tools, analytic methods, and landmark case studies across the major intelligence disciplines (including imagery, financial, and signals intelligence) — which are used in a wide range of careers in and outside government. Among other skills, students will learn how to search for patterns in blocks of text, measure objects with an image editor, locate scenes with Google Earth, map relationships with Maltego, identify shell companies with OpenCorporates, query the deepweb and darkweb, scrape websites with Python, and discover networked devices using freely available web services. We will also discuss best practices for research design and project management; online privacy and security; and ethical conduct in pursuit of the truth.