Provides Superior Long-Range Forecasting on Most Matters

5)  Another benefit of  OSIF is its ability to do long range forecasting better the intelligence community.  The classifiedcommunity—even on those rare occasions when it reaches beyond the Anglo-Saxon “special relationship,” simply cannot compete with the aggregate of external multi-national experts focused on medium to long-term national security issues, especially since the community is overly focused on short-term intelligence.  This benefit is especially pronounced when interactive dialog is permitted and encouraged between the all-source analysts and U.S. government consumers on the one hand, and external parties including state & local authorities, corporations, universities, non-governmental organizations, media specialists, labor union specialists, religious and cultural representatives, and citizens with localized or expert knowledge from direct observation.