EUROINTEL ‘99Den Haag /The Netherlands, March 8, 1999

OPEN SOURCE INTELLIGENCE :

THE INTERPOL EXPERIENCE

Philippe LejeuneCrime Analyst

Analytical Criminal Intelligence UnitINTERPOL GENERAL SECRETARIAT

ICPO Interpol and crime analysis

Open Sources and ICPO Interpol

Open Sources pilot project

Future / Conclusions

General Overview

Mission : “facilitating and developing international law enforcement cooperation in the fight against transnational crime”

Adding value to information to which it has access from a global perspective

Information is provided by its Member States [NCB’s] and stored in a relational database :

ICIS

ICPO Interpol

ICPO Interpol

Criminal Intelligence Directorate

Sub-Directorate 1

Sub-Directorate 2

Sub-Directorate 3

Sub-Directorate 4

• General Crime• Trafficking in human beings• Organized Crime• Terrorism

• Economic crime• Financial crime• FOPAC

• Drugs

• Criminal Intelligence ACIU

Centralized Analytical Function

Analytical Criminal Intelligence Unit :

8 Analysts and 1 Head of Group

All the Analysts are generalists

Project-based tasking in close collaboration

with a Specialized Officer

ICPO Interpol and Crime Analysis

How do Open Sources contribute to Interpol’s criminal intelligence activities ?

Towards an Interpol Open Sources policy

Open Sources Pilot Project

ICPO Interpol and Open Sources

ICPO Interpol and Open Sources

Open Sources allow familiarization with a specific crime topic Strategic work in international environment IPSG Specialized Officers, and particularly

Crime Analysts, are inevitably confronted with types of crime and/or regions of the world which they are not always familiar with

Putting crime in its context

Ascertain whether available confidential sources are representative of the real situation Global perception of crime versus national

perception Open Sources allow to detect unreported

elements and detect new investigative leads Timeliness of Open Sources

ICPO Interpol and Open Sources

More specific requests instead of general questionnaires sent out to Member States Questionnaires are time-consuming and the

questions are roughly the same no matter what the subject is

Assist the Member States in developing their own Open Sources practices

ICPO Interpol and Open Sources

There is a need for a structured approach in order to : avoid duplication through sharing of sources and

methods (reference databases) systematic use of Open Sources clear distinction between classified and Open

Source information

Take into account flexibility and/or limits of Open Sources

ICPO Interpol and Open Sources

Policy document drafted after horizontal and vertical consultations

Highlights : legal : nominal information needs to be confirmed

by the concerned NCB’s organizational : decentralized, yet co-ordinated

approach (by the ACIU) tools / sources of information : Internet output : diversification of intelligence products

ICPO Interpol and Open Sources

Who is involved ? central role of the analytical unit [ACIU] trained documentalists specialized police groups

Who is responsible for … collection ? requirements definition ? exploitation ?

ICPO Interpol and Open Sources

Topic : illegal immigration and trafficking in human beings for sexual exploitation

Methodologygathering all available data from ICIScomparative case analysis collection of Open Sources aimed at

filling “blind spots” in the available confidential sources

Open Sources Pilot Project

Methodology

without open sources, the project would have ended as a negative feasibility study

Certain results....

Open Sources Pilot Project

Open Sources provided information about :used routes

(International Organization for Migration)profile of victims / offenderswhy certain countries are more vulnerable

either as transit or destination countriesOutcome

Open Sources Pilot Project

Open Sources data gathering and exploitation must be considered as essential in all domains of law enforcement and particularly in crime analysis

Underestimating the importance of Open Sources is unrealistic

There is a great in-house potential to exploit a wide variety of sources (e.g. access to a large number of languages)

Conclusions

An “awareness training package” should be developed in cooperation with all involved ;

Diversification of operational and strategic products ;

Exchange of best practices / new techniques in the widest possible sense !

Future Actions

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTIONTHANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION

EUROINTEL ‘99EUROINTEL ‘99Den Haag /The Netherlands, March 8, 1999Den Haag /The Netherlands, March 8, 1999

OPEN SOURCE INTELLIGENCE :

THE INTERPOL EXPERIENCE