Crowdsourced Intelligence (Crosint): Using Crowds for National Security

Crowdsourcing’s special role in the formulation and implementation of national security policies, has led some to speculate on the extent to which crowdsourcing is an intelligence discipline, alongside the five “traditional” disciplines. This article argues that crowdsourcing is a unique discipline – Crowdsourced Intelligence (CROSINT) – that does not fully overlap with any of the other disciplines. It combines the human dimension of HUMINT and the visible dimension of OSINT, but involves approaching a large number of people broadly and publicly to provide information that could be sensitive but not classified.