Technology and Teamwork Meet Tradecraft at Booz Allen

In the field of intelligence, one of the most powerful resources for understanding adversaries exists in plain view: the websites, news sources, videos, social platforms, and more that make up open-source intelligence (OSINT).

Booz Allen Lead Associate Nick Co calls OSINT “the ‘int’ of first resort”—the rapidly shared information that decision makers, warfighters, and policymakers use in tandem with classified intelligence to address emerging threats.

Today OSINT is both a rising priority for the federal government and a growing professional discipline. Here Nick talks about his career path, Booz Allen’s work supporting the intelligence community’s just-released OSINT strategy, and—in honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month—what this work means to him as a Filipino-American.

Nick started his career studying cyber operations at the U.S. Naval Academy and spent his active-duty career supporting the Navy information warfare community.

“I supported a wide spectrum of Navy operations from being on ships to technical targeting,” he reflects. “From there, I felt a calling to work on technology and build cool things.”

This passion led him to Booz Allen’s OSINT program, where a uniquely multifaceted team of linguists, cultural specialists, and technologists helps the U.S. government collect, understand, and apply OSINT in today’s geopolitical environment. They collaborate in a complex and exponentially growing digital landscape where words can have vastly different meanings depending on the region, culture, and context.

“Language specialists and in-country experts try to get into the frame of mind of the target that we're trying to understand. Then technologists help overcome the technical hurdles as much as we can,” Nick explains. “We’re pioneering the tradecraft and developing new technologies to tackle the hardest OSINT challenges we see in the community.”  

OSINT is a team sport, especially as the national workforce and profession grow. One of the things Nick says he values most about working at Booz Allen is the community he joined.

“I’m working with phenomenal people—people who are autonomous, forward-leaning, with a very full perspective on things. They’re willing to embrace change and challenge our own preconceived notions,” he says. “And they're just so friendly, super kind, and welcoming.”

Being on the Booz Allen OSINT team gives Nick a chance to learn and grow daily. “We’re on the cutting edge, growing and developing every day. I’m navigating the unknown, refining processes, and building new technologies for challenges never seen before” says Nick.

Working with the OSINT program is just one way Nick is growing during his time at the firm. He also joined the firm’s Cyber Technical Experience Group and taken coursework in business management.

“Booz Allen is an environment that encourages learning,” he says. “I’m the tech lead on this project, and as a lead, you need business management fundamentals. So, I’m using my FlexEd benefits to pay for additional certifications—shoring up those gaps. My management is very supportive.”

This May, Booz Allen and its Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) employee community celebrate AAPI Heritage Month with an art workshop led by a local Korean artist, a virtual night of "Jeopardy" on the AAPI regions, and a panel/concert about leveraging creativity in the workplace featuring Osama Malik, a Booz Allen leader actively involved in the APIDA employee community. “It’s cool to be part of a community that cherishes and appreciates the heritage and has a holistic perspective and cultural understanding of the Southeast Asia region,” Nick says.

He lived in the Philippines until age 11 when his family moved to Seattle. There, he remembers having a paper route and being a Boy Scout—“two quintessential American activities.”

“I feel like the product of two worlds,” he says. “My mother has deep American roots, all the way back to the Revolutionary War, and my father immigrated to the United States because of the opportunity he saw.”

With Booz Allen OSINT, Nick is finding his own opportunities. “It's really cool to be on the cutting edge, answering our clients’ toughest challenges with the latest and greatest technologies,” Nick says.