Mitre Corporation

Organization

MITRE is organized as follows:

Additionally, internal research and development explores new technologies and ways to apply existing tools and technologies.

Since 1999, the MITRE Corporation functions as editor and primary CNA of the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE). CVE is now the industry standard for vulnerability and exposure names, providing reference points for data exchange so that information security products and services can interoperate with each other.

History

Under the leadership of C. W. Halligan, MITRE was formed in 1958 to provide overall direction to the companies and workers involved in the U.S. Air Force SAGE project. Most of the early employees were transferred to MITRE from the Lincoln Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where SAGE was being developed. In April 1959, a site was purchased in Bedford, Massachusetts, near Hanscom Air Force Base, to develop a new MITRE laboratory, which MITRE occupied in September 1959.

After the SAGE project ended in the early 1960s, the FAA selected MITRE to develop a similar system to provide automated air traffic control. The result of the project formed the National Airspace System (NAS), that is still in use today. To support the NAS project and continual operations with the U.S. Department of Defense at the Pentagon, MITRE opened a second "main office" in McLean, Virginia.

Through the 1960s, MITRE developed and supported military Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence (C³I) projects, including the Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS). MITRE also worked on a number of projects with ARPA, including precursors to the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET). Since the 1960s, MITRE has developed or supported most DoD early warning and communications projects, including the Joint Tactical Information Distribution System (JTIDS) and the Joint Surveillance and Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS).

In 1982, the Mitre Corporation authored a proposal for the State Department called "Cannabis Eradication in Foreign Western Nations." In this proposal, a plan was outlined to eradicate cannabis in participating nations within 121 days, for $19 million. The report discussed the use and safety considerations of paraquat. The plan would have been to aerially dispense paraquat over marijuana crops. One safety concern was the food crops grown alongside the marijuana crops being contaminated. A study conducted on rats by Imperial Chemical Industries was cited in the report, and claimed low health risks for paraquat. The U.S. Public Health Service commented on this study saying that due to the present squamous metaplasia in the respiratory tracts of the rats that "This study should not be used to calculate the safe inhalation dose of paraquat in humans."

During the 1980s, the German hacker Markus Hess used an unsecured MITRE Tymnet connection as an entry point for intrusions into U.S. Department of Defense, Department of Energy, and NASA computer networks.

On July 10, 1985, mitre.org was the first .org domain name registered, and it remains in use by the company today.

On January 29, 1996, MITRE divided into two entities: The MITRE Corporation, to focus on its FFRDCs for DoD and FAA; and a new company, named Mitretek Systems (now called Noblis), to assume non-FFRDC work for other U.S. Government agencies.

In 2005, a team from MITRE competed in the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge, and qualified in 23rd place for the final race.

Chief executive officers

Awards, honors, and accomplishments

Over the years, MITRE has received awards for corporate achievements as well as for achievements of its scientists, researchers, and engineers. A sampling includes

MITRE employees have created more than 30 technologies available for licensing, generated more than 60 packages of downloadable software, and been granted more than 110 US patents.