NSA Releases Spy Guide to Sourcing the Internet

As sourcers and sourcing recruiters we often find ourselves scouring the Internet for new resources and tricks. This week, the National Security Agency has made our jobs easier with the release of a 646 page document called “Untangling the Web: A Guide to Internet Research.”

The document was made public recently due to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by Michael Morisy and posted on Muckrock. The request was filed on April 13 and fulfilled on May 8. The document appears to have been created to help government operatives understand how to retrieve information on the web.

Though last updated in February 2007, it contains massive amounts of data that will help sourcers and recruiters as they work to improve their sourcing skills and understand how the internet works.

While I haven’t had time to read the entire document, sections that caught my eye were:

“The Past, the Present, the Future of Search”
“Mastering the Art of Search” – This section includes detail about meta search tools, mega search tools and web directories.
“Uncovering the “Invisible” Internet”
“Beyond Search Engines”
Pages 607 to 639, which contain a list of “Websites by Type”

I’m sure that as a sourcing community we will have a lot of discussions about this document, as we dig through it. Take a peek and let us know if you find any new techniques in the comments!