OSINT Awards

Waller IC OSINT Practitioner of the Year

Turbiville OSINT Unit of the Year

Markowitz IC OSINT Advocate Award

Waller IC OSINT Practitioner of the Year

In 1996, LTC Waller conceived of, and served as the program manager for the World Basic Information Library (WBIL), an innovative OSINT program of the U.S. Army Foreign Military Studies Office (FMSO). He subsequently worked as a consultant for the Central Intelligence Agency’s Community Open Source Program Office (COSPO), and returned to government service with Office of the Intelligence Community Chief Information Officer (IC CIO).  LTC Waller was assigned to the Office of the Assistant Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Open Source (ADDNI/OS) in 2006, where he was instrumental in the establishment of the National Open Source Enterprise.  His military assignments included command and intelligence staff assignments in Ansbach, West Germany, Fort Hood, TX, the Pentagon, Panama, Berlin, West Germany and Fort Belvoir, VA. He also served as a Military Observer with the United Nations Transitional Authority for Cambodia.

Born in Nashville, Tennessee on October 27, 1948, to Robert Lee Waller and Dorothy Boswell Waller, LTC Waller received his bachelor of arts degree from Tennessee Technological University and a master of arts degree from Georgetown University.  He passed away on March 31, 2011 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC and was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.

Eligibility: The OSINT Practitioner of the Year award is open to any U.S. Citizen who is employed by a U.S. Intelligence Community organization in a military or civilian capacity. Contractors directly supporting the Intelligence Community are also eligible but must be nominated by their government customer.

Nomination: Any eligible (as stated above) OSINT practitioner may be nominated by an OSINT Foundation member in good standing, or the first E-9, GS-15 or O-6 in the nominee's chain of command. Nominations are made with the appropriate nomination form and must be complete and submitted by October 30, 2022. Self-nominations are not permitted.

Turbiville OSINT Unit of the Year

The Dr. Graham Turbiville OSINT Unit of the Year award recognizes the U.S. Intelligence Community unit which has demonstrated exceptional impact to national security and has materially contributed to the OSINT discipline. Dr. Graham Hall Turbiville, Jr., served as Director of the U.S. Army Foreign Military Studies Office (FMSO), at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.  He was a widely respected member of the defense intelligence community for more than 40 years, and steadfast advocate of open-source intelligence (OSINT). 

Dr. Turbiville joined what would become FMSO in 1986 and retired as its director in 2003.  Prior to heading FMSO, Dr. Turbiville served as chief of the Soviet/Warsaw Pact Strategic Operations Branch, at the Defense Intelligence Agency. In this position at DIA, he and his branch made significant inputs and contributions to the understanding of the Soviet strategic threat to US national security interests at the time. A prolific writer, Dr. Turbiville was noted for his expert knowledge of Soviet politico-military affairs, as well as of revolutionary warfare, deception, subversion, and narco-trafficking.  His work was featured in a large number of military related journals and books.  He was the founding editor of the journal Low Intensity Conflict and Law Enforcement, a foundational publication that was instrumental in linking the military and legal countersubversive efforts of US and foreign governments. Dr. Turbiville worked closely with a host of US and foreign officials who regarded him highly and constantly sought his advice.

Born in Tampa, Florida on September 9, 1942 to Col. Graham Turbiville, Sr., and Frances Gathright Turbiville, Dr. Turbiville received his bachelor of arts degree from Southern Illinois University, a master of arts from The George Washington University, and a PhD from the University of Montana. He passed away on April 24, 2012 in Dripping Springs, Texas.

Eligibility: Any military unit, civilian office or program of the U.S. Intelligence Community.

Markowitz IC OSINT Advocate Award*

The Dr. Joseph Markowitz IC OSINT Advocate Award recognizes the U.S. Intelligence Community senior leader who has advanced the OSINT discipline, demonstrated advocacy of the OSINT practitioner profession, and taken steps to establish or strengthen a program of record for OSINT in their respective agency.  Dr. Joseph Markowitz served as the first Director of the Community Open Source Program Office (COSPO) and dramatically advanced the Intelligence Community's OSINT capabilities.

Dr. Markowitz began his career in the late 1960s working on the development of ARPANET. In 1975, he joined the Central Intelligence Agency as a research manager in the Office of Research and Development, where he helped modernize the Agency's information technology infrastructure. In his role as the first Director of COSPO, Dr. Markowitz created the basic IT infrastructure, policy framework and an information repository for the nascent open-source intelligence discipline. A true visionary, he conceptualized and oversaw the establishment of the Open Source Information System (OSIS), which eventually became the OSINT platform used by all elements of the Intelligence Community. He also developed the One-Way Transfer system which, in the late 1990s, allowed OSINT practitioners to email content from OSIS to the classified networks, a truly groundbreaking technology. OSIS also housed many OSINT related resources from many IC elements, included the IC's first commercial available information repository - the Intelligence Community - Rich Open Source Environment (IC-ROSE), as well as OSIS-International (OSIS-I) which included participation by well over a dozen foreign governmental OSINT elements.

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on June 30, 1938 to Harry and and Mae Markowitz, Dr. Markowitz received a bachelor of science degree in Mathematics and a masters in Psychology from Wesleyan University, and a PhD in Acoustic Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. He passed away on October 24, 2019 at the West Virginia University Medical Center.

Eligibility: Any general officer of the U.S. Armed Forces, or any civilian member of the Senior Executive Service, Senior Intelligence Service, or the Senior National Intelligence Service who is serving in the U.S. Intelligence Community.