How Mercyhurst?s CIRAT does OSINT ? and why

program, the oldest intelligence studies program in academia, was founded in 1992.In 1997, Mercyhurst's Intelligence Studies program established its awardwinning Center for Intelligence, Research, Analysis, and Training (CIRAT), which to this day remains the flagship program for conducting open-source intelligence (OSINT).For a generation, CIRAT has successfully performed OSINT projects for a wide range of government, law enforcement, and private sector clients.Due to the impact of multiple Information Age technologies and trends since the end of the Cold War, open-source intelligence collection, or OSINT, has transformed and proliferated to such an extent that some practitioners now refer to it as second-generation OSINT.The purpose of this study was to employ qualitative research methodologies to analyse CIRAT procedures and performance to better comprehend the reasons for CIRAT's continued success.We found that CIRAT OSINT projects were successful because student OSINT researchers have been consistently and systematically trained in OSINT principles, procedures, and methodologies and adequately supervised by experienced principal investigators and OSINT subject matter experts.Through participation in CIRAT, students learn through training and experience how OSINT should be properly conducted, what technological tools and tradecraft are necessary to enable its success while mitigating its risks, and how OSINT can be conducted professionally, ethically, and legally.The implications of our findings are that today's second-generation OSINT practitioners benefit considerably from having both the educational foundation and experiential, tacit learning necessary to not only perform OSINT efficiently and effectively, but also safely and ethically.