Straifford president George Friedman says he sees the online world as a kind of mutually reinforcing tool for both information collection and distribution, a spymaster's dream. Last week his firm was busy vacuuming up data bits from the far corners of the world and predicting a crisis in Ukraine.“ As soon as that report runs, we'll suddenly get 500 new internet sign-ups from Ukraine, ” says Friedman, a former political science professor. “And we'll hear back from some of them.” Open-source spying does have its risks, of course, since it can be difficult to tell good information from bad. That 'sswheresStraitford earns its keep.
Friedman relies on a lean staff in Austin. Several of his staff members have military-intelligence backgrounds. He sees the firm's outsider status as the key to its success. Straitford's briefs don't sound like the usual Washington back-and forthing, whereby agencies avoid dramatic declarations on the chance they might be wrong. Straitford, says Friedman, takes pride in its independent voice.