Phase 1 Operational Direction Strategic Foundation oppstrat

Phase 1 — Operational Direction & Strategic Foundation (oppstrat)

Phase 1, designated as oppstrat, constitutes the "Direction" stage of the Intelligence Cycle. Its primary purpose is to establish a rigorous, auditable, and legally defensible foundation for the investigation before any data collection occurs. This phase is designed to prevent "scope creep" and ensure that all investigative actions are proportionate and necessary.

Strategic Frameworks and Implementation

Phase 1 is governed by two primary analytical frameworks: STEEPLES for environmental assessment and PLAN for legal/ethical justification. These frameworks are operationalized through specific Markdown templates that serve as the investigation's "state of mind" record.

1. Environmental Assessment (STEEPLES)

The investigator must evaluate eight factors to identify influencing conditions and knowledge gaps:

• Social: Mapping identity structures and power hierarchies using cultural-context.md.
• Technical: Evaluating digital footprints and collection barriers (encryption, VPNs).
• Economic: Analyzing financial environments and ownership structures.
• Environmental: Geospatial coordinate confirmation using geolocation.py.
• Political: Identifying Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs).
• Legal: Mapping jurisdictions and compliance obligations (GDPR, CPIA).
• Ethical: Documenting data minimization and proportionality.
• Safety: Assessing OPSEC risks and investigator protection.

2. Justification Framework (PLAN)

Every investigative vector must be justified against four criteria in the case-decision-log.md:

• Proportionality: Weighing intrusion against the seriousness of the matter.
• Legality: Citing statutory authority (e.g., GDPR Article 6).
• Accountability: Identifying the decision-maker and information available at the time.
• Necessity: Proving the action is required to answer a specific Intelligence Requirement (IR).

Strategic Foundation Data Flow The diagram below illustrates the flow from initial scoping to the establishment of an authorized collection plan.

Phase 1 Logical Flow

graph TD
    subgraph "Natural Language Space (Strategy)"
        A["Operational Goals"] --> B["Gap Analysis"]
        B --> C["Intelligence Requirements (IRs)"]
        C --> D["Intelligence Collection Plan (ICP)"]
    end

    subgraph "Code Entity Space (Templates & Scripts)"
        E["research/case-decision-log.md"]
        F["research/investigation-strategy.md"]
        G["scripts/geolocation.py"]
        H["templates/database/task-log.md"]
    end

    A -.->|Defined in| E
    C -.->|Stored in| F
    D -.->|Tasks mapped to| H
    B -.->|Informs| G

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Step 1: Operational Goals and Justification

This step focuses on situation scoping and the contemporaneous recording of investigative decisions.

Key Tasks

• t1.1 Situation Scoping: Defining success criteria and performing Gap Analysis to identify what is unknown.
• t1.2 STEEPLES Assessment: Mapping the eight factors. It is forbidden to skip a factor; empty factors must be recorded as confirmed gaps.
• t1.3 PLAN Justification: Compiling an "Assessment of Choices" matrix. No collection vector may be executed without a completed PLAN entry.
• t1.4 Negative Decision Logging: Recording why certain leads were abandoned. This is critical for proving that all reasonable lines of inquiry were pursued.

Step 2: Strategic Planning and Resource Allocation

Transitioning from justification to a dynamic, living Investigation Plan / Strategy Document.

Intelligence Requirements (IRs) and Collection

Operational goals are decomposed into specific, falsifiable questions (IRs). These IRs are assigned a diagnostic value rating, prioritizing resources toward the most impactful leads.

The Intelligence Collection Plan (ICP) maps IRs to collection actions using a Parallel Sourcing Mandate: critical IRs must span at least two independent source tiers (e.g., Tier 1 Government Records vs. Tier 3 OSINT).

Operational Ontology (POLE)

Before extraction, the investigator defines the POLE schema (Person, Object, Location, Event). This ensures data can be resolved into the structured database without retrospective schema changes, which are considered a systematic failure.

Resource Allocation and Ontology Mapping

graph LR
    subgraph "Planning Phase"
        IR["t2.1: Intelligence Requirements"]
        ICP["t2.2: Collection Plan"]
        ONT["t2.5: POLE Ontology"]
    end

    subgraph "Entity Resolution Targets"
        P["Person"]
        O["Object"]
        L["Location"]
        E["Event"]
    end

    IR --> ICP
    ICP --> ONT
    ONT --> P
    ONT --> O
    ONT --> L
    ONT --> E

    style ONT stroke-width:4px

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Administrative Checkpoints

Before Phase 1 concludes, specific administrative gates must be cleared to ensure an unassailable audit trail:

Task	Requirement	Reference
t3.1a	Case Summary Record: Initiation with unique ref number, title, and UTC timestamp.
t3.2a	Terms of Reference (ToR): Defining temporal, geographic, and methodological boundaries.
t3.3a	Supervisory Review: Strategy certification within 24–96 hours.	skills/claude-sleuth/references/oppstrat/direction-foundation.md:65
t3.4a	Meta-Log Setup: Configuring digital chain-of-custody for SHA-256 hashing.	skills/claude-sleuth/references/oppstrat/direction-foundation.md:66

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