The CIA has been using artificial intelligence to write “open source intelligence” analyses, which are being distributed to local police via the Department of Homeland Security’s “fusion centers,” according to documents obtained by <\/span>Reason<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

CIA officials have been alluding to this new AI tool. Open Source Enterprise (OSE) Director Randy Nixon told <\/span>Bloomberg<\/span><\/i> in a <\/span>2023 interview<\/span><\/a> that the agency was building a new chatbot for intelligence analysts to use, and CIA Deputy Director Michael Ellis said at an <\/span>April 2026 conference<\/span><\/a> that it had produced an entirely AI-generated report for the first time.<\/span><\/p>\n

The use of AI has clearly grown quickly since then. OSE was creating daily reports on the security situation in Canada and Mexico during this year’s soccer World Cup. <\/span>Reason<\/span><\/i> obtained the reports during an unrelated request under the Washington Public Records Act for World Cup\u2013related police bulletins.<\/span><\/p>\n

The reports don’t contain anything secret or particularly shocking. They are an example of “open source intelligence,” a longstanding practice of combing through public media for potential indicators. But they are a rare glimpse into how the CIA uses new technologies\u2014and how U.S. intelligence agencies are integrated into local policing.<\/span><\/p>\n

“OSE used a keyword search and a keyword relevancy algorithm to select these articles from major outlets in host countries. OSE used [generative AI] to refine the selection, translate the titles, summarize the selected articles. OSE officers reviewed and validated the GAI outputs at each stage to ensure they accurately reflected source material upon initial setup of this serial report,” the methodology note on each of the reports states.<\/span><\/p>\n

The note names GPT-4.1\u2014which is also <\/span>commercially available<\/span><\/a> to the public\u2014as the particular generative AI model used for these reports. In other words, CIA analysts are plugging international news stories into ChatGPT and passing on the results.<\/span><\/p>\n

The reports were passed on to the Washington State Fusion Center, an office for sharing intelligence between federal, state, and local law enforcement. After the attacks of September 11, 2001, the new Department of Homeland Security created the national fusion center network, which has often been criticized for <\/span>wasting resources<\/span><\/a> and spreading <\/span>downright incorrect information<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s not clear what, if anything, police in Washington state did with the CIA reports. The fusion center redacted several of the documents it provided to <\/span>Reason<\/span><\/i> for security reasons.<\/span><\/p>\n