17 September 2022

Setting Your Moral Compass: A Workbook for Applied Ethics in OSINT

Melissa Hanham 

As the capability and credibility of open source intelligence (OSINT) have grown dramatically, analysts' stakes have also risen.

In nonproliferation and international security, open source analysts have taken on important roles in surveilling potential proliferators, fact checking official claims and government statements, and monitoring crises of global interest. OSINT analysts working on issues of international security must carefully consider the potential consequences of publishing their analysis, including the risk of future harm to themselves, their employer, other individuals, or even international security as a result of their work.

The weight of this ethical burden is starting to be felt more acutely by open source analysts in nonproliferation, many of whom express a strong appetite for tools and resources to support their ethical decision-making (for more information, please see our preceding “Feeling the Burden” report, developed in partnership with the Ethical Journalism Network).

The “Setting Your Moral Compass” workbook, created by Melissa Hanham and published by the Stanley Center for Peace and Security, is intended to support practitioners of open source analysis regardless of whether they work in a large organization or as a freelancer.

Utilizing an ethical decision-making framework from the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, the case studies in this workbook are intended to help the analyst see a dilemma from multiple perspectives, distinguish between ethical and legal issues, and practice decision-making with hypothetical scenarios before they face real-world situations. The accompanying facilitator’s guidebook equips a leader, manager, peer, or educator to lead a group of open source analysts in developing applied ethics skills using exercises and other resources associated with the case studies.

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