The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) sponsors Tearline.mil, a congressionally supported publication platform that features unclassified geospatial intelligence from academic and non-profit contributors using open research and commercial imagery. The project supplies open-source intelligence to grow authoritative reports for NGA, federal partner agencies, and general public usage to support and assist in the agency's mission.

Growing Open Content Through Analytic Outreach

NGA partners with academic and non-profit contributors to create public-facing, open-source intelligence on various strategic, economic, and humanitarian intelligence topics that tend to be under-reported within in-depth or long-form formats. This open-source intelligence is created for three primary purposes: (1) citation and usage for internal purposes, (2) strengthening analytic outreach, and (3) growing public trust by increasing transparency around a shared interest in various intelligence topics. The Tearline Project aligns with Intelligence Community Directive 205 to expand analytic outreach with outside groups to grow alternative ideas and new knowledge bases. The NGA Tearline Project delivers real-world analytic outreach content transparently. For this work, the NGA Tearline Project received the IC Transparency Team of the Year Award from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the OSINT Unit of the Year Award from the OSINT Foundation.

Academic Freedom

Tearline contributors maintain full editorial independence and are encouraged to submit topics they are passionate about researching. NGA helps review how contributors create content not what they create to grow open content. NGA provides GEOINT consulting services and advises on submissions and content. Tearline's content is syndicated to several .gov and .mil channels so contributors can reach new audiences. This concept builds on the precedent of the CIA World Factbook but pushes it beyond reference material to include original research.

A manuscript submission agreement and data access agreement sets the tone and culture of the collaboration. Here's a sample of the terms and conditions:

• NGA and Contributor X have entered into a data access agreement. In return for Contributor X's assistance in documenting Y, NGA will extend access to commercial and unclassified geospatial data. This data access agreement will increase the frequency and granularity of public reporting on topic Y.
• NGA does not exercise editorial control over Contributor X's content, analytic conclusions, or prescriptions. The copyright stays with the author(s); therefore, Tearline articles represent the author's perspective, not the federal government's. NGA supplies data and reviews Contributor X's methodologies based on NGA's long experience with geospatial analysis and makes suggestions to improve the content.

Benefits of Tearline Participation Video Explainer

Publication Credit

Publishing your thesis, capstone work, or special project in Tearline is a good way to earn publication credit to strengthen your resume, LinkedIn profile, and overall brand. See a citation sample below:

Johnson, Chris, “Russia's Arctic Dilemma: Permafrost Thaw Threatens Russia's Ambitions,” Tearline.mil (2023), https://doi.org/10.1086/727651.

If interested in pursuing publication credit, please see Publishing with Tearline for the next steps.

Government Syndication Reach and Feedback

Tearline integrates with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence's intelligence.gov under the Public's Daily Brief and NGA's homepage under Learn More About Tearline. NGA passes unclassified feedback to our contributors on how their content was used within NGA and the IC to demonstrate how it impacts new audiences.

Social Media Promotion

NGA will make video summaries for social media promotion after each Tearline report is published and post to our YouTube playlist. NGA has hundreds of thousands of followers throughout the major social media platforms. These social media posts drive substantial traffic and attention to each new Tearline report. See an example of the summary video below and sample posts from Facebook, LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), and Instagram.

Release Tempo

High-quality original content takes time to create. Tearline is not a situational awareness platform nor is it a news aggregator. Manuscript submissions are accepted on a rolling-basis and are published as they meet the standards of quality and editorial review.

Integration

You can integrate Tearline content into your services by coding against the API.

API Reference - https://www.tearline.mil/api-reference/

Contact Information

tearline@nga.mil