Robert David Steele (1952–2021), often known as David Steele, was an American former Marine Corps officer, CIA employee, consultant, and later a controversial political commentator whose life traced an unusual arc from government service to outspoken dissident. Born in New York but raised across Latin America and Asia, he developed an early interest in international affairs and later studied political science and strategic studies at American University and the Naval War College. His global upbringing and military training shaped his views on intelligence, decision-making, and the importance of understanding cultures from the inside. Steele served in the U.S. Marine Corps, both on active duty and in the reserves, before being recruited into the CIA. In the Agency, he worked primarily in human intelligence (HUMINT), an area that requires interpersonal skill, cultural awareness, and careful information gathering. His time there convinced him that the intelligence community was technologically sophisticated but strategically limited, overly focused on secrecy and classified systems while often ignoring abundant, high-quality information available in the public domain. Out of this belief came what would become his most influential legacy: the advocacy of Open Source Intelligence (OSINT). Steele helped establish the Marine Corps Intelligence Activity (MCIA) and later founded Open Source Solutions (OSS), a company dedicated to developing OSINT as a professional discipline. He argued that most useful intelligence—up to 90 percent—came from open sources, and he insisted that national intelligence systems needed to move away from their dependence on secrecy-heavy processes that were expensive, slow, and often detached from ground realities. Steele’s books, articles, and conference presentations championed transparency, citizen-informed intelligence, and interagency collaboration. He gained a reputation as both a visionary and a troublemaker: someone who questioned entrenched systems and insisted that public information, if properly organised, could outperform traditional classified methods. His testimony before governmental bodies and involvement in academic and military forums helped push OSINT into the mainstream, where it is now a recognised and widely used field, particularly in cybersecurity, journalism, and military planning. In the mid-2010s, however, Steele’s public profile shifted dramatically. He grew increasingly aligned with alternative media networks, fringe political groups, and conspiracy-driven narratives. He appeared at events and online platforms that promoted controversial or unverified claims, leading many in the intelligence establishment to distance themselves from him. Some supporters considered him a courageous whistleblower exposing corruption and systemic failure; critics contended that he was spreading misinformation and undermining his earlier credibility. This later phase of his life remains highly polarising. Despite the controversies, Steele continued writing and speaking on issues of national security, democratic integrity, and global information flows. His core intellectual themes—transparency, decentralisation, and empowering citizens through open information—remained present even as his political positioning became increasingly fringe. Robert David Steele died in August 2021. His legacy is complex: he is remembered as a pioneering voice behind OSINT, a persistent critic of intelligence bureaucracy, and a prolific thinker about how governments manage information. Yet he is also remembered for his later associations with conspiracy theories that overshadowed some of his earlier professional achievements. For many observers, Steele represents both the potential and the danger of challenging established systems—an individual whose early contributions reshaped intelligence practice, but whose later choices sparked debate about credibility, influence, and the responsibilities that come with a public platform.
