MITRE did not try to ask trick questions. Most of the questions I was asked were like this one - questions related to what I put on my resume and the experience I had applying this type of knowledge. In this case, they needed specific skills for the position I was interviewing for. In this case, I had experience with both of these fields of study so was able to easily answer the question. For those interviewing for software positions, MITRE (and specifically CAASD) does a lot of development in Java. Be aware of common tools used to develop in Java and best practices of object oriented programming. Not being an expert in Java won't necessarily preclude you from getting the job. MITRE looks for skilled programmers so make sure you stress the experience you have with the languages you are best in.