TRUSTED SOURCE - In this day of disinformation and facts blending routinely with political opinion and being passed off as objective news, The Cipher Brief is launching a new occasional series called, ‘Trusted Source’ to share tips and insights on where our exclusive group of experts and readers get their news.
This week, we spoke with Rob Lively, Command Sergeants Major (Ret.) U.S. Army Special Operations and asked him to share his experience moving from classified briefings, to finding the best open source information available to keep him on top of global and domestic issues.
The day after I retired from the US Military after 28 years of service and 25 years in US Special Operations, I was dated. I no longer had access to classified networks or a team of analysts. As we are all aware, the world is ever changing and its doing it at an unprecedented pace. Any awareness or information that I had when I retired was old and getting older by the minute. I did though, feel a need to remain informed. I also felt a responsibility to my fellow citizens to be able to answer their questions and educate them on their military as well as global, regional and situational realities where classification was not compromised. It has been my experience that the average citizen expects that as a retired Special Operations service member that you are still connected and informed. I needed and wanted to keep my awareness as keen as possible. So, I developed a strategy to do exactly that.
A foundational element of my strategy is to read and/or skim multiple news outlets daily. I access multiple news outlets no matter how they lean or slant. I then drill down on just a few. I believe it is my responsibility to find the common themes and a sense of balance in the reporting. The “objective” news is mine to distill out of a media that does not understand or accept its responsibility to simply inform us without bias.
Another foundational element of how I stay informed is via email services that scan multiple trusted outlets and include the stories in a series of emails that are pushed to me daily. I customize these to my areas and topics of interest. I like the accessibility this affords because it means there is always something on my smartphone that I can read. Sitting in line waiting for a haircut has never been more productive thanks to technology.
But even with technology, in-person conversations still matter. I live in the part of the country where many special operations active service members and friends live, so when I see them, our conversations almost always focus back on our shared work and experiences. They are not in-depth conversations that include classified information but talking with acquaintances does provide a degree of awareness and helps me to gain and maintain perspective on current events.
Lastly, I trust my own instincts in determining whether a source is credible. I take the opportunity to apply my own analytical clarity with my intuitive clarity. The sum of all of these parts creates a picture of global events that informs my current state of awareness.
A Little Q & A:
The Cipher Brief: How do you assess the credibility of the sources used in open source information that you read?
Lively:The same way I measure the credibility of a person I am dealing with. Do they appear to have good intentions? Do they seem agenda based? Do they admit when they are not correct? Do I find the common threads in their reporting that can be seen in other credible sources? What do I observe and assess to be their track record over time? At the end of the day, I look at whether they present multiple sides of any situation. If they do, they are probably striving to be credible and establish trust. I really don't do this any different than I have always done when assessing someone who is providing intelligence, other than the fact that now, I am not leveraging an action on this open source information.
The Cipher Brief: What are your thoughts on the use of social media as a tool to rapidly disseminate information around the world?
Lively: I have tried to follow some social media in attempt to keep myself more aware, but I have found that it happens so fast that there is not enough thought put into the product. Therefore, I do not put much faith in it outside of gaining on the ground atmospherics that could be provided by immediate crowd sourcing.
Read more expert insights, opinion and analysis in The Cipher Brief.
The Cipher Brief is pleased to welcome the author, Rob Lively as a speaker at the Cipher Brief's 2020 Threat Conference in Sea Island, GA. There are a limited number of seats available at this world-class gathering of national security leaders and influencers from the government and private sector. Request your invitation today.
