How Mercyhurst’s CIRAT does OSINT – and why

Mercyhurst University’s Intelligence Studies program, the oldest in the country, was founded in 1992. Five years later, Mercyhurst’s Intelligence Studies program established its award-winning Center for Intelligence, Research, Analysis, and Training (CIRAT), which remains the flagship program for conducting open-source intelligence (OSINT) to this day. For a generation, CIRAT has successfully performed OSINT projects for a wide range of government, law enforcement, and private sector clients. Thanks to the impact of multiple Digital Age technologies and trends since the end of the Cold War, open-source intelligence collection, or OSINT, has transformed to such an extent that some practitioners now refer to it as second-generation OSINT. To grasp the reasons for CIRAT’s continuous track record of success, one must consider how OSINT is now 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.