Eliot Higgins
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Eliot Ward Higgins (born January 1979), who previously wrote under the pseudonym Brown Moses, is a British
citizen journalist Citizen journalism, also known as collaborative media, participatory journalism, democratic journalism, guerrilla journalism, grassroots journalism, or street journalism, is based upon members of the community playing an active role in the pro ...
and former
blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...
ger, known for using open sources and social media for investigations. He is the founder of Bellingcat, an
investigative journalism Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, racial injustice, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend m ...
website that specialises in
fact-checking Fact-checking is the process of verifying the factual accuracy of questioned reporting and statements. Fact-checking can be conducted before or after the text or content is published or otherwise disseminated. Internal fact-checking is such che ...
and
open-source intelligence Open source intelligence (OSINT) is the collection and analysis of data gathered from open sources (overt sources and publicly available information) to produce actionable intelligence. OSINT is primarily used in national security, law enforceme ...
. He has investigated incidents including the Syrian Civil War, the
Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...
, the downing of
Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17/MAS17) was a scheduled passenger flight from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Kuala Lumpur that was shot down by Russian-backed forces with a Buk missile system, Bu ...
and the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal. He first gained mainstream media attention by identifying weapons in uploaded videos from the Syrian conflict.


Life and work

Higgins was born in
Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is sited on the River Severn, northwest of Wolverhampton, west of Telford, southeast of Wrexham and north of Hereford. At the 2021 United ...
, England, in January 1979. A high-school dropout, he attended Haberdashers' Adams Grammar School in
Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...
from 1990 to 1995. He previously worked in finance and administration. In 2012, when Higgins began blogging about the Syrian civil war, he was unemployed and spent his days taking care of his child at home; his wife is Turkish. Higgins took the pseudonym Brown Moses from the
Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American guitarist, composer, and bandleader. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestra ...
song "Brown Moses" on the album '' Thing-Fish''. Higgins' analyses of Syrian weapons, which began as a hobby out of his home in his spare time, are frequently cited by the press and human rights groups and have led to parliamentary discussion. His Brown Moses Blog began in March 2012 by covering the Syrian conflict. Higgins operates by monitoring over 450 YouTube channels daily looking for images of weapons and tracking when new types appear in the war, where, and with whom. According to '' Guardian'' reporter Matthew Weaver, Higgins has been "hailed as something of a pioneer" for his work. Higgins has no background or training in weapons and is entirely self-taught, saying that "Before the Arab spring I knew no more about weapons than the average Xbox owner. I had no knowledge beyond what I'd learned from Arnold Schwarzenegger and Rambo." Higgins began reporting on the use of improvised barrel bombs by the Syrian government in 2012, around the time their use was first reported. Other aspects of the Syrian conflict uncovered and documented by Higgins include the use of
cluster bomb A cluster munition is a form of air-dropped or ground-launched explosive weapon that releases or ejects smaller submunitions. Commonly, this is a cluster bomb that ejects explosive bomblets that are designed to kill personnel and destroy vehi ...
s in 2012, which the Syrian government denied using; the proliferation of shoulder-launched heat-seeking missiles known as MANPADS; and the proliferation of
Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
n-made weapons which was reportedly connected to the United States, a story later picked up by ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
''. He has also investigated the Syrian regime's alleged use of chemical weapons, including the Ghouta chemical attack in detail. Higgins has also performed contract work for
Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...
and Action on Armed Violence. Higgins' work on who was responsible for the sarin gas attacks in the Syrian civil war was criticised in a letter to the ''
London Review of Books The ''London Review of Books'' (''LRB'') is a British literary magazine published bimonthly that features articles and essays on fiction and non-fiction subjects, which are usually structured as book reviews. History The ''London Review of Book ...
'' by Theodore Postol of the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...
and former UN weapons inspector, Richard Lloyd. Higgins used
geolocation Geopositioning is the process of determining or estimating the geographic position of an object or a person. Geopositioning yields a set of Geographic coordinate system, geographic coordinates (such as latitude and longitude) in a given map datum ...
to publish an estimate of where the James Foley execution video was made outside
Raqqa Raqqa (, also , Kurdish language, Kurdish: ''Reqa'') is a city in Syria on the North bank of the Euphrates River, about east of Aleppo. It is located east of the Tabqa Dam, Syria's largest dam. The Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine city and b ...
, an
Islamic State The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadism, Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS ...
stronghold in north-central Syria. Higgins used visual markers in stills from the video and his interpretation of satellite images of the terrain around Raqqa. From 2016 until early 2019, Higgins was a senior fellow in the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab and ''Future Europe Initiative'' projects. In 2018 Higgins was a visiting research associate at the Centre for Science and Security Studies (CSSS) at the Department of War Studies at
King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...
and visiting research fellow at
University of California Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkeley ...
's Human Rights Center. In October of that year, Higgins was the subject of
BBC Radio Four BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of Talk radio, spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at B ...
's programme ''Profile''.


Bellingcat

On 15 July 2014, Higgins began a new website called Bellingcat for citizen journalists to investigate current events using open-source information such as videos, maps and pictures. Its launch was funded by a
Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...
campaign. Bellingcat's self-taught open-source analysts include Higgins and eight volunteers. Among its major projects, Bellingcat has investigated the downing of
Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17/MAS17) was a scheduled passenger flight from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Kuala Lumpur that was shot down by Russian-backed forces with a Buk missile system, Bu ...
in Ukraine. Its work is being considered by the
Dutch police The National Police Corps (), colloquially in English as Dutch National Police or National Police Force, is the centralised, national law enforcement agency of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and its sole police force. Constituted under the prov ...
investigating the crash, and Higgins has been interviewed twice by the investigators. Bellingcat has suggested that the anti-aircraft missile that hit the plane was fired by a Russian unit, the 53rd Buk brigade, based in the city of
Kursk Kursk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Kursk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kur (Kursk Oblast), Kur, Tuskar, and Seym (river), Seym rivers. It has a population of Kursk ...
. On 31 May 2015, Bellingcat released a report alleging among other things photo manipulation of satellite images released by the
Russian Ministry of Defense The Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation (; MOD) is the governing body of the Russian Armed Forces. The President of Russia is the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Commander-in-Chief of the forces ...
. The photos concerned the location of Ukrainian Buk missile launchers around the time MH17 was shot down. Bellingcat's use of error level analysis in its report was criticised by Jens Kriese, a professional image analyst. Bellingcat's findings about which field the missile was fired from were vindicated in September 2016 by the Dutch-led MH17
Joint Investigation Team Joint Investigation Teams (JIT) are law enforcement and judicial teams set up jointly by national investigative agencies of European Union (EU) member states to handle cross-border crime. Joint investigation teams coordinate the investigations and p ...
. In 2023, Higgins published an image on social media of former President Trump in jail in a jumpsuit, generated by AI. As a result of this, he was banned from
Midjourney Midjourney is a generative artificial intelligence program and service created and hosted by the San Francisco-based independent research lab Midjourney, Inc. Midjourney generates images from natural language descriptions, called '' prompts'', ...
, which he used to create the image.


Publications

In 2015, Higgins was one of five co-authors of the report ''Hiding in Plain Sight: Putin's War in Ukraine'' published by the
Atlantic Council The Atlantic Council is an American think tank in the field of international affairs, favoring Atlanticism, founded in 1961. It manages sixteen regional centers and functional programs related to international security and global economic prosp ...
, which examined direct Russian military involvement in Ukraine. Higgins together with a report co-author, Maks Czuperski from the Atlantic Council, presented ''Hiding in Plain Sight'' at the
European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...
alongside Russian opposition figure Ilya Yashin and former Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov. Higgins was also one of five authors of an Atlantic Council report released in 2016, ''Distract, Deceive, Destroy'', on Russia's role in Syria. Higgins' 2021 book '' We Are Bellingcat'' documents the rise of citizen investigative journalism and Bellingcat and was ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
and ''The Week's'' book of the week in February 2021.


Reception

Higgins has received significant praise and support from human rights groups, journalists, and non-profit organisations. In 2013, Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director at
Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...
said "Brown Moses is among the best out there when it comes to weapons monitoring in Syria". ''The New York Times'' war reporter C.J. Chivers said, in 2013, that fellow journalists owe a debt to Higgins' investigative reporting in Syria. "Many people, whether they admit or not, have been relying on that blog's daily labour to cull the uncountable videos that circulate from the conflict," he said.
Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...
said, in 2013, that the Brown Moses Blog was vital in proving the Syrian government was using ballistic missiles, information then used to send a research mission to Syria. Higgins has been a subject of interest for the British and U.S. media. In 2015, he was described as "one of the world's foremost citizen journalists" by
News Limited News Corp Australia is an Australian media conglomerate and wholly owned subsidiary of News Corp. The group's interests span newspaper and magazine publishing, Internet, market research, DVD and film distribution, and film and television pr ...
reporter Victoria Craw. He has been profiled in print by ''The Guardian'', ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'', ''
The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...
'', and ''
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
''. Television features have been run by ''
Channel 4 News ''Channel 4 News'' is the main news programme on British television broadcaster Channel 4. It is produced by ITN, and has been in operation since Channel 4's launch in November 1982. Current productions ''Channel 4 News'' ''Channel 4 News'' ...
'' and ''
CNN International Cable News Network International or CNN International (CNNi, simply branded on-air as CNN) is an international television channel and website, owned by CNN Worldwide. CNN International carries news-related programming worldwide; it cooperates ...
''. He has also been covered by non-English sources. A 2015 Hanns Joachim Friedrichs Award (Sonderpreis) for excellence in journalism was awarded to Higgins and bellingcat. In 2019, he was announced as one of ''
Foreign Policy Foreign policy, also known as external policy, is the set of strategies and actions a State (polity), state employs in its interactions with other states, unions, and international entities. It encompasses a wide range of objectives, includ ...
'' magazine's Global Thinkers. In 2021, he was named one of the 28 most influential people in Europe, in the "Disrupters" category, by
Politico Europe ''Politico Europe'' (stylized as ''POLITICO Europe'') is the European edition of the American news organization '' Politico'' reporting on political affairs of the European Union. Its headquarters are located in Brussels with additional offices in ...
. In 2025, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by
Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince of Orange as a Protestantism, Protestant institution, it holds the d ...
“for his contributions to the use of open source intelligence – gathering and analysing information from publicly available sources – to guarantee historical accuracy and fair judicial process: data that can also be used as evidence in international criminal cases.”


Bibliography

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References


Further reading

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External links

*
Eliot Higgins (@EliotHiggins) / Twitter
* Inactive since July 2014
Bellingcat
citizen investigative journalism website, founded by Higgins. ** Posts tagge
MH17
** Posts tagge
August 21st
( Ghouta chemical attack) {{DEFAULTSORT:Higgins, Eliot 1979 births Living people Citizen journalists Intelligence websites English bloggers People educated at Adams' Grammar School Writers from Shropshire People of the Syrian civil war Open-source intelligence British male bloggers British investigative journalists 21st-century British journalists 21st-century British male writers