House lawmakers are increasing their focus on the intelligence community’s approach to open-source intelligence through a new OSINT subcommittee.
The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence announced the new OSINT subcommittee late last week. It will be led by Rep. Ann Wagner (R-Mo.), who has been in Congress since 2012. She also served as U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg from 2005 to 2009.
“Open-source intelligence is essential for a wide audience of policymakers, decisionmakers, and other consumers who gain situational awareness without having to rely on classified or restricted sources,” Wagner said in a statement provided to Federal News Network. “Our adversaries are working together now more than ever before and for that reason they pose an even greater threat to the United States. Open-source intelligence helps provide a better understanding of the volatile playing field we find ourselves in.”
HPSCI Chairman Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) said OSINT is a “growing and complex area” for the IC. Crawford just took the gavel of the full committee from Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) in January.
“As HPSCI recalibrates its oversight of the IC, I’m certain that Rep. Wagner’s experience as a foreign diplomat and leader within Congress will serve our committee and the American people well,” Crawford said in a statement. “I look forward to working with her as the chairwoman of the OSINT Subcommittee, and I know we’ll see great things from her.”
Intelligence community leadership has increasingly prioritized OSINT in recent years. Open-source intel can be based on both publicly available sources, such as news websites and social media, as well as commercially available information, such as information bought from data brokers or private geospatial intelligence firms.
Last year, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released an intelligence community-wide OSINT strategy. Leaders involved in the effort want to increase data sharing across the various spy agencies, while also professionalizing OSINT as a discipline. They also say agencies need to allocate more resources specifically for OSINT-related efforts.
Several intelligence agencies, including the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research, have additionally released their own OSINT strategies.
More recently, ODNI late last year signed off on new standards for using open source data. Officials believe the standards will help accelerate agencies’ use of OSINT.
Lawmakers have also prodded the intelligence community to take better advantage of open source data, as opposed to relying on classified sources and methods.
The House’s version of the Fiscal 2023 Intelligence Authorization Act, for instance, criticized the CIA for not including any new OSINT capabilities in its budget request. Lawmakers added more funding for the CIA’s Open Source Enterprise as part of that bill.
“Our national security depends on our intelligence community vigilantly collecting and protecting sensitive information while deterring our enemies’ aggressive intelligence campaigns against the United States,” Wagner said. “I look forward to working to make certain there is a greater focus on the open-source community to advance appropriate policy and governance, resources, and standardized training and tradecraft to ensure OSINT has the capabilities and capacity to help protect us. Our national security remains one of my highest priorities.”
Copyright
© 2025 Federal News Network. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
