The open source intelligence and reporting community is full of highly talented individuals. Amazing research, in-depth analysis of highly complex topics, and coordinates of photos or videos that, at first glance, seemed impossible to trace, are published almost daily.
It’s almost impossible not to feel admiration for these people. How can we mortals even hope to reach their level? Surely they were born brilliant, but that wasn’t the case. At some point, they were just starting out and they failed. And they failed a lot. And they still do. And that’s what makes them great.
In the field of OSINT, small glitches are inevitable, and to some extent expected. Maybe an investigation that never saw the light of day because a crucial piece of evidence was missing, maybe an image or video that was never geolocated, or an identity that was never revealed. You gave it your best shot, but it wasn’t enough, and that’s okay (for now). It’s easy to fall prey to feelings of inadequacy, frustration, and sometimes self-pity. But that won’t help you.
So let’s look at some ways that recognizing and addressing your own shortcomings can, and will, help you become a better open source analyst or researcher.
The danger of complacency: how failure forces us to double-check every step
I’ve lost count of the times I thought I was on the right track, meticulously following the breadcrumbs of my research, only to suddenly hit a wall. What I expected to find was nowhere to be found. Something didn’t add up.
At this stage, it is essential to take a step back and re-evaluate all the steps that led us to this point. At some point we made a mistake and it is much more difficult to identify and correct it later in the investigation than when we first found it.
It is therefore imperative to get into the habit of thoroughly examining all the data as you go along with your research. Nothing should be taken for granted. Your job is to double and triple check every breadcrumb so that when you reach your final conclusion, you are absolutely confident in your findings.
A good OSINT analyst doesn’t take shortcuts. These small lapses serve as reminders to remain vigilant at every stage of an investigation. This brings us to the second point on the list: overconfidence.
The Illusion of Certainty: How Failure Curbs Overconfidence and Improves Analysis
When we hone our ability to analyze every breadcrumb, our confidence in spotting misinformation, avoiding bias, and reaching informed conclusions naturally increases. This increased confidence can be good on its own, but it is a dangerous obstacle in OSINT.
From time to time, you’ll still feel like you did everything right, that you double-checked everything, but you’ll still hit that wall. It happens to all of us, and it’s a gentle (and private) reminder that we’re not infallible. This kind of failure is critical to keeping OSINT analysts grounded. You don’t want to become someone who claims to have the keys to the truth. No good OSINT analyst will claim to have it all figured out, and those who do are only fooling themselves.
The allure of certainty is very seductive, but remember: it is an illusion.
Staying alert: accepting failure as a tool for personal improvement
No matter how skilled you become, there will always be someone, somewhere, who will make you feel dissatisfied.
When you start your OSINT journey you will come across many impressive professionals. They are everywhere. You probably aspire to be at least as good as them. Maybe you even want to be better than them. I certainly wanted to be. I told myself, “One day, I will beat this person. I will do it faster and I will do it better.” I had a very clear goal in my mind.
But do you know how many of those people I beat over the years? Not a single one. Because they weren’t waiting for me to catch up. They were on their own path, perhaps striving to outdo or compete with other people they felt were more accomplished than them.
This failure to be better than others forces us to keep improving, to develop our skills even further, to persist in our pursuit of excellence. Over time, you will realize that you are no longer competing with others, but with your past self. And that is an amazing catalyst for self-improvement.
Conclusion
Working in the open source field means diving into an endless stream of data. You learn how to navigate the sea of content, verify everything, and put the puzzle together. However, there will be days when you fail. Despite your best efforts, nothing will work. You may feel that OSINT is simply not for you. Those days come and go, but how you deal with them will make all the difference in the kind of professional you become.
Failure is not something to be feared, but something to be tamed. We must anticipate it, accept it, and use it for personal growth. Those who shy away from failure are doomed to stagnation. And there is no place for them in (good) OSINT.
This story was originally posted on this siteand is republished here with permission, with minor stylistic modifications. You can alsoWatch a video version of the original story.
Sofia Santos is a Senior OSINT Analyst and Team Leader at the Centre for Information Resilience, where he monitors, analyses and investigates human rights violations, armed conflicts and terrorist activities in a specific region of the world. He was born in Portugal but currently lives in the UK.
