NEW for '26 - Supervisor & Decision Making Course

Course Overview

The OSINT Supervisor / Decision-Maker Course is specifically designed for those in supervisory, managerial, or assurance roles who are responsible for authorising, reviewing, or relying upon OSINT outputs, rather than conducting open-source research themselves.

As OSINT and social media intelligence become increasingly embedded in investigations, safeguarding, and intelligence-led decision-making, supervisors and decision-makers face growing responsibility for ensuring that online activity is lawful, proportionate, necessary, and evidentially sound. This course addresses that responsibility directly.

The programme focuses on people-focused OSINT, particularly the attribution of online accounts, digital personas, and social media activity to real-world individuals. It equips delegates with the knowledge and frameworks needed to critically assess investigator conclusions, recognise weak or speculative attribution, and provide effective oversight and challenge.

Throughout the day, the emphasis is on decision quality, governance, and defensibility, not technical OSINT tradecraft.

Who This Course Is For

This course is suitable for:

• Supervisors and team leaders overseeing OSINT or SOCMINT activity

• Intelligence managers and senior analysts

• Decision-makers responsible for authorising online activity or investigative strategies

• Senior officers or managers who rely on OSINT outputs to inform operational or safeguarding decisions

• Professional standards, compliance, or assurance staff reviewing OSINT practices

It is not a practitioner-level OSINT course and assumes delegates are supervising or consuming OSINT, rather than conducting it day-to-day.

What the Course Covers

The course provides a structured, practical understanding of:

How OSINT Attribution Works in Practice

• How investigators use open sources to research individuals across online platforms

• Common attribution techniques used in people-focused OSINT and social media intelligence

• The difference between identification, association, and attribution

Assessing Attribution Quality and Confidence

• What constitutes reasonable, proportionate, and lawful attribution

• Understanding confidence levels in attribution decisions

• Recognising weak, circumstantial, or incomplete evidence

• Identifying over-reach, assumption, and inference creep

Strengths, Limitations, and Risks of OSINT

• Where OSINT is powerful — and where it is inherently fragile

• Platform bias, deception, impersonation, and false positives

• The risks of misattribution and downstream decision-making errors

Supervisory and Decision-Maker Responsibilities

• Legal, ethical, and governance considerations for supervisors

• Proportionality, necessity, and justification in online investigative activity

• Oversight responsibilities when authorising or reviewing OSINT-led decisions

Structured Decision-Making and Challenge

• Applying clear decision-making frameworks to OSINT reviews

• Asking the right questions of investigators

• Challenging conclusions without undermining operational confidence

• Recognising cognitive bias, confirmation bias, and over-confidence

Documentation and Defensibility

• Ensuring OSINT activity is properly documented

• Recording rationale, confidence levels, and limitations

• Making attribution and decision-making defensible under scrutiny

• Preparing for audit, disclosure, or post-incident review

Learning Objectives and Outcomes

By the end of the course, delegates will be able to:

• Understand how investigators conduct people-focused OSINT and online attribution

• Recognise what constitutes reasonable, proportionate, and lawful attribution

• Assess the strength and reliability of OSINT-based conclusions

• Identify weak evidence, speculative reasoning, and cognitive bias in OSINT reporting

• Apply structured frameworks when authorising or reviewing OSINT activity

• Provide effective supervisory challenge and assurance

• Ensure OSINT decisions are documented, governed, and defensible

• Confidently oversee OSINT activity without needing to be a technical practitioner

Course Format

• Duration: 1 day

• Delivery: 100% remote (live online delivery)

• Style: Instructor-led, discussion-based, scenario-driven

• Focus: Decision-making, oversight, and governance rather than tools or techniques