Mitre 2011 Annual
Mitre 2011 Annual
Mitre 2011 Annual
MITRE
The MITRE Corporation is a not-for-profit organization chartered to work in the public interest. MITRE manages federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs). An FFRDC is a unique organization that assists the United States government with scientific research and analysis, development and acquisition, and systems engineering and integration. We also have an independent research and development program that explores new technologies and new uses of technologies to solve our sponsors problems in the near term and in the future.
4 From the President and the Chairman of the Board 6 Strengthening National Defense 12 Engineering a Complex Airspace System 16 Safeguarding Domestic Security 20 Responding to Evolving Civil Sector Challenges 24 Taking the Long View 28 Inside MITRE 30 News & Recognition 32 Leadership 34 Board of Trustees
each of the federally funded research and development centers we operate for our government sponsors, we have renewed our commitment to partner with them to achieve these objectivesand we made good progress in 2011. For example, our multistatic radar solution offers greatly improved accuracy for identifying ground-based targets with a smaller footprint and significantly lower costs compared to conventional radar. We made substantive contributions to a program that will help save the Army approximately $1.5 billion when it equips its combat teams with new radios. We are working to tie disparate networks together and close the information gap to make significant improvements to command, control, communications, situational awareness, and targeting effectiveness. Our fingerprint matching solution for homeland security promises to reduce costs by a factor of 1,000 while increasing processing speed from minutes to seconds. In the critical cybersecurity arena, MITRE is offering ideas that will help government agencies carry out their missions when cyber attacks compromise vital systems. Together with Mass Insight Global Partnerships, we created the first cross-sector consortium in the nation devoted to tackling the complexities of cybersecurity through regional collaboration. MITRE is also helping DHS to further discussion and consensus building across government agencies on adoption of cybersecurity best practices, standards, and technologies. Recognizing that the Federal Aviation Administration cannot shut down the national airspace to test new technology, MITRE created an experimentation environment that allows researchers and stakeholders to see how changing one part of the national airspace system would affect the whole and has hosted hundreds of demonstrations, evaluations, and experiments. We have virtualized the environment to enable agencies to test their collaborative responses to emergencies from their own offices without the expense of bringing everyone to the same location. We also helped develop and demonstrate a system that can be implemented quickly and efficiently to pave the way for safe unmanned aircraft systems operations in the national airspace.
y any measure, 2011 was a tumultuous year. From natural disasters at home and abroad, to the drawdown in Iraq and continuing operations in Afghanistan, to unrest in Africa and the Middle East, to a global financial crisis that shows few signs of abating, our national leaders have faced exceptional challenges. And 2012 promises to be equally challenging. Protecting the security of our nation has become an increasingly complex issue. Once the exclusive purview of the traditional defense and intelligence disciplines, today it encompasses far more. Our future depends not only on our ability to defend our countrys borders and national interests, but also on our ability to secure the health and welfare of its citizens. We must maintain a stable economy fueled by the secure and efficient collection of taxes; we must guarantee the safe and effective movement of people and goods within and across our borders; we must protect our critical infrastructures from debilitating cyber attacks; and we must improve our fragmented healthcare system. Furthermore, all of these challenges must be addressed in an environment characterized by significant budget constraints. We understand that reducing the cost of acquisitions, operations, and systems will be a crucial component of future success. We strive to deliver highimpact solutions, based on scientific and engineering excellence. The FFRDCs that we operate are well positioned to deliver transformational capabilitiessolutions that provide orders of magnitude improvements in efficiency, effectiveness, and affordability. Within
edge management organizations in North America. We continue to be recognized as a best place to work by Computerworld, the Boston Globe, and Glassdoor.com. We are ably aided in our efforts by our trustees, who provide invaluable guidance and direction, offering insights into how we might best help government meet the challenges it faces. This year we say goodbye to two retiring trustees, Dr. William Happer and Mr. William Mitchell. We thank them for their service and wish them well in their future endeavors. For over 50 years, in good economic times and bad, we have found ways to deliver the transformational mission solutions our sponsors expect from us. We are poised to do the same in the coming years and will work closely with our sponsors to ensure their continued success.
We are helping the Internal Revenue Service manage the impact of last-minute tax law changes as well as the many information technology initiatives scheduled for 2012. We are working with the Department of Veterans Affairs on a system solution to reduce veteran homelessness and with the IRS and the Department of Health and Human Services to launch the Affordable Care Act. Two of the products of our healthcare work, popHealth and hData, are moving forward as accepted standards. Through our internal research program, we work to anticipate the future and bring about transformational results. Our collaboration with Harvard University resulted in the first programmable nanoprocessor. Through what we call the MITRE Challenge, we are catalyzing worldwide collaboration. The first challenge focused on identity matching, a capability important to many of our sponsors. Our research into strategies to rapidly create essential system capabilities in on-demand situations promises to speed the design, acquisition, and deployment of command and control technology by using available Web-based and mobile applications. We take great pride in our work and are gratified by recognition of our accomplishments. This year Information Week ranked us as one of the most innovative users of business technology. Our partner-accessible social network, Handshake, won an Intranet Innovation Award, and our exceptional knowledge management and sharing practices again placed us among the top 10 knowl-
ITRE has a long history of advancing radar technology, most recently with the practical demonstration of a bistatic/multistatic ground-moving target indications (GMTI) radar configurationa previously recognized concept that, to date, had not seen operational application due to several technical obstacles. Our researchers showed how certain signal processing algorithms, paired with the right hardware, enable a new class of lightweight GMTI radars for a variety of operational environments. Besides the smaller size and potentially lower cost compared to conventional radar approaches, the prototype offers improved accuracy for identifying groundbased moving targets. The bistatic/multistatic work began within the MITRE-funded research
In August 2011, we held a weeklong Operational Value Experiment, or OVX, with Marine Corps operators and acquisition professionals at MITREs site in Quantico, Va. Working side by side with the Marines, our staff introduced several CCOD tools and concepts of operations. For example, our new model for field adaptation of IT resourcescreate, provision, evolve, reuseenabled analysts to spend significantly more time analyzing data, and much less time gathering it. Overall, OVX participants saw the mission potential in the CCOD technology and made several requests to evaluate it further at military facilities.
network defined by secure segments, known as black core. We had already completed the design and had recently finished an integration and checkout process. The upgrades provided the necessary infrastructure to support the bandwidth increasepreparation that paid off sooner than anyone could have expected.
to support disaster relief. MITRE immediately joined the endeavor, applying essential knowledge about Japans networks to establish connectivity to the most devastated regions. One of our first tasks for earthquake relief occurred within three days after the quake. A team from our Tokyo office developed alternatives for getting a twoway video-teleconference capability up and running to the new Operation Tomodachi Joint Task Force Headquarters in Sendai, the hardest hit area of the country. During the second week, the Japan Ministry of Defense decided to accelerate upgrades of CENTRIXSJPN, a U.S.-Japan bilateral military data-sharing network, to more than 80 times its original capacity. The ministry asked our staff to coordinate the operation. Fortunately, the system was ready: Just a year earlier, we had gained consensus between the United States and Japan for upgrading CENTRIXS-JPN from low bandwidth point-to-point serial circuits to a
MITRE, its sponsors, and industry partners face a common problem: an ever-increasing number of cyber threats that could potentially cause serious harm to operations. Since no single organization can possibly tackle all these threats, collecting and sharing information through peer communities is becoming the norm. We are being proactive in developing efficient solutions for this pressing problem, based on our experience in cyber threat information sharing and standards development. In 2011, our researchers implemented the Collaborative Research into Threats (CRITs) software prototype, which enables cyber threat information to be exchanged in an easy-to-understand format that builds on existing cybersecurity standards, including the MITRE-developed CVE and MAEC. Previously, threat information was buried in emails and pdfs, making it difficult for analysts to decipher. With CRITs, a human-machine interface enables rapid, in-depth analysis so organizations can share information quickly and take action to mitigate the threat.
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est known for their role in overseas military operations, unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) are also capable of a wide range of civil tasks closer to home, such as border patrol and disaster relief. However, FAA regulations require all aircraft be able to see and avoid other aircraft in the NAS. Drawing on our experience working with the FAA, industry, and the military, MITRE researchers are evaluating a Ground-Based Sense and Avoid (GBSAA) capability to mitigate the lack of see and avoid in current UAS. In late 2011, a collaborative team of government, MITRE, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, and Raytheon engineers successfully demonstrated an extension of the Air Forces GBSAA proof of
concept called Dynamic Protection Zone, or DPZ. The exercise, held in Gray Butte, Calif., showed how DPZ effectively alerts UAS pilots to execute avoidance maneuvers in sufficient time to remain well clear of other aircraft. Among many productive results from the exercise, we collected significant data to help verify the accuracy of our radar-modeling tool, which maps the probability of detection and generates data that will help define the volume of airspace in which the UAS could safely operate. This marked a critical milestone for the integration of UAS into the NAS.
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with a broad stakeholder community. In particular, we engaged directly with MITRE sponsor agencies that have aviation missions, including the FAA, Air Force, Army, Navy, and Coast Guard. We also organized a three-day symposium in June 2011 to unveil the roadmap. National Transportation Safety Board Chairman, the Hon. Debbie Hersman, addressed a high-level summit held at MITRE several months earlier to kick off the initiative. The June symposiuma direct result of that summit brought together 300 key stakeholders in aviation from organizations around the world. The gathering had a singular focus: to align worldwide fatigue research efforts and accelerate countermeasures to combat fatigue in all aviation domains. This initiative marks a crucial step in a sequence that stretches from identifying and funding high-impact research projects through testing, risk-assessment, and, ultimately, implementation of new processes for reducing aviation fatigue.
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and voice-over-IP communications obtained during experiments. The Hub also provides cross-domain services for controlled data exchange between networks operating at different levels of classification. A MITRE teamwhich included representation from four FFRDCsdeveloped the Hub. Using the Hub, our sponsors and other partners can help improve the safety, security, efficiency, quality, and affordability of the NAS at a lower cost and with less risk.
the ability to demonstrate the end-to-end experience of flights through the system. Such features as a realistic tower simulator, cockpit, and controller workstation simulators show how changing one part of the NAS would affect the whole. The demand for the facility grows steadily: In 2011 alone, hundreds of pilots and controllers participated in demonstrations, evaluations, and experiments as part of more than 530 events.
Operations is very hands on and visual. Its really impossible to integrate a new procedure into the operation without letting controllers and pilots get their hands on it and their minds around it. MITRE has the state-of-the-art facilities andas importantly the expertise to operate them. Not only can Ops people see the proposed procedure and how it will operate in a realistic way, but it also lets them do the what-ifs and explore even more possibilitiesall in the safety and comfort of their own lab station. The ability to do this kind of work and then immediately plow the results back into the real world is invaluable. Elizabeth Ray, Vice President, Mission Support Services, FAA Air Traffic Organization
or decades, narcotics smugglers, illegal immigrants, and potential terrorists have used hard-todetect tunnels to cross the U.S.Mexico border. Over the last three years, however, our researchers devised an innovative sensor system that finds these tunnels by hunting them underground, rather than searching from above. The system uses a robot crawler that carries a radar antenna through a horizontal borehole, searching for signals that might indicate a smugglers tunnel. In 2011, the DHS Science & Technology Border and Maritime Division awarded MITRE a contract to develop modeling and simulation tools and a system methodology for developing an advanced capability to detect
clandestine tunnels. Our staff conducts fundamental research and explores the technical integration methods needed to accelerate the delivery of commercial tunnel-detection systems. MITRE also provides technical management, systems engineering guidance, sensor performance analysis, geophysical models, sensor simulation, and sensor and algorithm development. As featured in such magazines as Wired and Homeland Security Today, the work also shows promise for other government organizations, including the Department of Defense.
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We worked toward the goal of reducing system costs by a factor of 1,000 and increasing processing speed from minutes to seconds. In 2011, we demonstrated our prototypes compatibility with DHSs architecture using non-proprietary algorithms in an open-source, low-cost, and scalable design that achieves the needed accuracy and speed. This follows earlier recognition of this works significant progress: Fast Company magazine cited it as a key factor in selecting MITRE for its 2010 list of the Worlds 50 Most Innovative Companies.
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published white paper, Enabling Distributed Security in Cyberspace, which we helped produce. DHS introduced a draft of the paper at an interagency forum on cybersecurity co-hosted by DHS and the White House; MITRE was the only non-governmental organization to take part. The paper articulates DHSs vision of the cyber ecosystem of the future, where industry, academia, and government collaborate to predict likely attacks, limit their spread, and minimize their consequences. Today, we are helping DHS to further discussion and build consensus across government agencies on adoption of cybersecurity best practices, standards, and technologies.
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The study, called the Advanced Chemical Vapor Detection System project, began on behalf of the DHS Science & Technology Chemical and Biological Division. Our team created a matrix of 339 different chemical sensors, and then ranked the sensors by effectiveness, reliability, and breadth of screening capability. In addition, we produced system architecture, planning, and development recommendations for integrating chemical vapor detectors into new and existing buildings. Our reports validate and contribute to DHS research on chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive threats and are helping set the stage for national standards.
o assist agencies in achieving objectives for public service, MITRE is helping sponsors operate as their own systems integrators for key revenue, tax, and benefits administration programs. Over the last decade, these agencies have been modernizing their systems using MITRE for specialized engineering expertise and acquisition or source-selection support. As these large and complex systems evolveespecially when integrating new and legacy systemsit is challenging for agencies to oversee the work, stay within budget and schedule, and deliver effectively integrated solutions. On several programs, we are helping sponsors succeed in the integration role, engineer better technical solutions, deliver new IT-enabled business capabilities,
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help on EVH. In 2011, an EVH statistical model was developed to demonstrate what effect changes to the EVH budget have on efforts to assist the homeless veteran population, leading to valuable new insight into resource requirements and program interactions for VA. Statistics released in late 2011 by VA and the Department of Housing and Urban Development show that the EVH program is already beginning to demonstrate modest, positive resultswith homelessness among veterans declining nationally by nearly 12 percent. As the initiative grows and reaches increasing numbers of veterans, MITRE will continue to provide strategic support to further VAs progress in this crucial mission.
Healthcare Transformation
VAs Veterans Health Administration, which is coordinating the work of multiple agencies, engaged our
Another MITRE tool, hDataa framework for developing, verifying, and securely exchanging EHRs
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achieved a double milestone in 2011. Two worldwide standards bodies, the ANSI-accredited Health Level 7 International and the Object Management Group, validated hData as a draft standard for trial use. As a result, hData has become a much-needed resource for software developers to create interoperable, secure medical records for the healthcare community.
and operating domains, define and build new system architectures and technologies, integrate with legacy systems, establish new organizations and services, and connect with new stakeholders and partners. Officials from both agencies, along with MITRE, developed a concept of operations to establish a common understanding of the Insurance Exchange functions and the information flow among HHS, IRS, the Social Security Administration, states, employers, and insurers. The MITRE team is supporting both agencies efforts to define the challenges and craft a shared strategic solution for implementing ACA.
MITRE-Harvard Nanoprocessor
ts a familiar sight: warfighters traversing rugged terrain, bent over under huge backpacks, carrying electronic equipment piled high over their heads. MITRE wants to help reduce the size of their hightech equipment and shrink the power needed to run it. That quest achieved a breakthrough in 2011 with the introduction of the worlds first programmable nanoprocessor. As announced in the international journal Nature, a collaboration between MITRE and Harvard University demonstrated how complex computer circuits can be built from ultra-tiny components called nanowires. The nanoprocessor is the culmination of many years of teamwork between our Nanosystems Group and Harvard. Shrinking the size and weight of electronic systems will ultimately have a real impact not just for warfighters on foot, but for those aboard tanks, ships, planes, and armored vehicles. This innovation shows great promise for non-military applications as well, such as tiny medical devices.
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Topics range from classical systems engineering building blocks, like system design and development, to the emerging discipline of engineering informationintensive enterprises. Rather than promoting a specific product or technology, the articles focus on getting the job done right by using all the facets of systems engineeringincluding technical, organizational, and economic factors. We add new documents to the SEG frequently, and the public can access it at no charge at www.mitre.org/seg.
U.S. colleges have seen a decline in the number of students enrolled in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) majors over the last decade. Through a variety of STEM activities, our employees are working to reverse the trend. In 2011, MITRE provided technical opportunities to hundreds of promising students, helping them become the technology innovators of tomorrow. At our Tampa and Colorado Springs offices, for example, dozens of students are developing the skills and expertise needed to be knowledgeable cybersecurity
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specialists. Through our longstanding Student Program, we hire exceptional students from high schools and colleges across the country to serve as summer technical aides and to participate in cutting-edge nanotechnology research. And to boost advanced studies, MITRE is a leader in the National GEM Consortium, a nonprofit that helps top minority students pursue graduate degrees in STEM fields.
The ACSC is the first cross-sector consortium in the nation devoted to tackling the complexities of cybersecurity through regional collaboration. MITRE provides space and other resources for the ACSC, which Mass Insight Global Partnerships manages. Even before the kick-off, we created the Cyber Threat Information Portal, a secure, virtual environment for ACSC members. Other plans for the center include working with educational institutions to train an effective cyber workforce and developing cyber-focused research partnerships between major universities and industry laboratories in New England.
Inside MITRE
Knowledge Management as a Powerful Engine for Collaboration
he knowledge and work products of our employees, past and present, are some of the companys greatest assets, and we go to great lengths to maximize their value through sharing, both inside and outside the companys walls. At MITRE, knowledge management, or KM, isnt compartmentalized or separated from our daily work. Rather, it is a continuous thread that underlies our activities, enhances our ability to collaborate, and affects our choices for corporate infrastructure and communications systems. Why is knowledge management so important to us? At MITRE, we believe KM supports our ability to serve the customer and enable an adaptive and innovative learning environment. For example, many of our sponsors rely on us to provide the historical context and ongoing support for projects that may last yearseven decadessuch as AWACS or the Link 16 tactical data link. We follow rigorous processes to preserve and transfer often-irreplaceable information from one generation of our staff and sponsor representatives to the next. Our state-of-the-art social software tool, Handshake, promotes secure collaboration between our employees and our partners in government, industry, and
academia. Handshake, which has been honored with an Intranet Innovation Award, promotes rapid interactions among individuals and groups in a format that allows for the retention and reuse of shared solutions. We also encourage and recognize employee ideas that promote knowledge sharing. For example, a MITRE employee developed a cyber-analysis training curriculum, initially for internal use, that is now available through the Internet to the broader cybersecurity community. In both 2009 and 2011, the KNOW Network named us one of its Most Admired Knowledge Enterprises. But even with such honors, KM is never done at MITREthere are always better ways to manage information and promote collaboration. One such initiative, Project Pages, helps us consolidate important programmatic information and associated work products in one location for all project team members to use. We also invested in infrastructure upgrades in 2011 to make it easier for staff to work together in support of our sponsors. For instance, we established collaboration covessmall, flexible video-teleconferencing and collaborative workspacesthat enable teams to conduct impromptu informationsharing and brainstorming sessions.
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Our Locations
Corporate offices 202 Burlington Road Bedford, MA 01730 (781) 271-2000 7515 Colshire Drive McLean, VA 22102 (703) 983-6000
Financial Data
Total Revenue ($ in millions)
$1,500 $1,114 $1,234 $1,263 $1,310 $1,389
Domestic locations ALABAMA Huntsville Montgomery ARIZONA Fort Huachuca CALIFORNIA El Segundo San Diego COLORADO Colorado Springs DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Bolling AFB FLORIDA Fort Walton Beach Miami Orlando Tampa GEORGIA Fort Gordon HAWAII Honolulu ILLINOIS Shiloh KANSAS Kansas City Leavenworth MARYLAND Aberdeen Annapolis Junction Baltimore Bethesda Lexington Park New Carrollton Silver Spring Suitland MICHIGAN Ann Arbor NEBRASKA Omaha NEVADA Nellis AFB NEW JERSEY Atlantic City Eatontown Picatinny Arsenal NEW YORK Rome NORTH CAROLINA Fort Bragg OHIO Dayton OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City RHODE ISLAND Newport TEXAS Dallas Fort Bliss Fort Hood San Antonio VERMONT Burlington VIRGINIA Alexandria Arlington Chantilly Charlottesville Fairfax Hampton Herndon Norfolk Quantico Richmond Warrenton WASHINGTON Seattle WEST VIRGINIA Clarksburg
Total Staff
8,000 6,816 7,006 7,544 7,887
7,178
International locations BELGIUM Brussels GERMANY Darmstadt Heidelberg Ramstein Air Base Stuttgart JAPAN Tokyo NETHERLANDS The Hague REPUBLIC OF KOREA Seoul TAIWAN Taipei UNITED KINGDOM RAF Molesworth
MITREs revenue from operations increased 6.0% from $1,310 million in fiscal year 2010 to $1,389 million in fiscal year 2011. While all of MITREs FFRDCs experienced growth, the year-over-year increase in revenue was driven primarily by the addition of work for the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Health and Human Services and the Federal Aviation Administration. Assets remained virtually flat from fiscal year 2010, while staff growth was consistent with the overall revenue growth rate.
Leadership
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Board of Trustees
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Honorary Member
Professor Emeritus of Electrical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Sustainability The MITRE Corporation is committed to the development of a sustainable environment. The printing company is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. The 2011 MITRE Annual Report was printed using paper with 10% post-consumer waste on McCoy Sheets, manufactured by Sappi Fine Paper North America with 10% PCW and FSC Chain of Custody Certification. 100% of the electricity used to manufacture McCoy Sheets is Green-e certified renewable energy.
MITRE
www.mitre.org
2012 The MITRE Corporation. All rights reserved. Approved for Public Release. Distribution unlimited. Case number 11-5380. For more about our research into emerging technologies, see MITREs technology publication, Envision @ www.mitre.org/envision. Photography credits Select photos courtesy of af.mil, dhs.gov, navy.mil, defense.gov, thinkstockphotos.com, Manuela Schueler/depositphotos.com. Additional photos and photo illustrations by MITRE Corporate Communications and Public Affairs. Produced by MITRE Corporate Communications and Public Affairs.
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