MITRE and Appalachian Unified Aerospace (AUA) announced a partnership and technology licensing agreement for MITRE's Hazmat Auxiliary Unit (HAU), advancing homeland security and first responder safety nationwide. Hazardous materials response teams within fire and police departments manage potential leaks, spills, and other incidents involving dangerous substances to minimize risk to the public. At the outset of a response, teams must secure the scene, assess risks to personnel and the environment, and determine appropriate personal protective equipment. MITRE's HAU enhances these efforts by integrating uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), hazmat sensors, and MITRE-developed software to provide real-time material identification and geospatial tracking in complex environments. The capability enables responders to assess threats before entering a scene, significantly improving operational safety and situational awareness.
The Department of War (DOW) is executing once‑in‑a‑generation acquisition reforms that demand wartime speed and a larger, more diverse defense industrial base (DIB). In support of these reforms, the MITRE Fast‑tracking Acquisition Security Transformation (FAST) Study, funded by the Office of the Under Secretary of War for Intelligence and Security, analyzed how current security requirements, policies, and practices affect the DIB’s speed, cost, and schedule to effectively deliver on DOW acquisition. The premise of the FAST Study is that the National Industrial Security Program (NISP), established in 1993, was designed for a vastly different era of DOW acquisition practices, systems, DIB composition, and threat environment, and that in the intervening 32 years little has changed in its overall framework. Today, classified and sensitive information is created, processed, and transmitted in dynamic, distributed digital systems, while many industrial security processes still operate as if information remains stationary, paper-based, and confined to fixed facilities.
Cybersecurity can be physically and emotionally taxing. With strained eyes and hunched backs, some practitioners work around the clock examining myriad lines of code. Their goal? The near impossible task of defending against adversaries, who are constantly evolving their tactics and looking to exploit vulnerabilities. Burnout has become so common that last fall at ATT&CKcon 6.0 — an annual MITRE event convening community around the well-used resource — cybersecurity leader Lillian Teng centered her keynote address on mental health. Show up for yourself so you can show up for others, she encouraged. The sentiment echoes Suneel Sundar's personal and professional philosophy. And, having been in the field for more than 20 years — 11 at MITRE — he's intimately familiar with cybersecurity's formidable threat landscape.
MITRE has introduced the Embedded Systems Threat Matrix™ (ESTM), a cybersecurity framework to protect the embedded systems that power our nation's critical infrastructure and defense technologies. Developed in collaboration with the Air Force's Cyber Resiliency Office for Weapon Systems (CROWS), ESTM helps organizations understand and defend against cyber threats targeting these vital systems. ESTM reflects MITRE's mission-first approach as a not-for-profit organization serving the public interest. The framework provides practical tools for researchers, vendors, and security professionals to identify vulnerabilities and build stronger embedded systems. ESTM can be used across many sectors, including transportation, energy, healthcare, industrial controls, and robotics.
MITRE has been selected as one of Computerworld's Best Places to Work in IT for 2026. Now in its 32nd year, this awards program showcases the IT departments that offer workers great benefits, career development and training opportunities, along with a stimulating work environment. The list of best organizations published in a special report on Computerworld.com on December 9, 2025. The 2026 Best Places to Work in IT is grouped by company size: Large (organizations with 5,000 or more employees); Midsize (between 1,001 and 4,999 employees); and Small (1,000 or fewer workers).
Shortly after MITRE’s BlueTech Lab opened in Bedford, Mass., in January 2024, sensors engineer Cecelia Kane became one of the first MITRE employees to use it for MITRE work. When she’d interviewed for a position with us the year prior, while a senior at Cornell University, Kane got a glimpse of the under-construction space. "They took me out onto the bridge and pointed to where the lab would be. And it was just a lot of construction equipment, so I didn't really have a picture in my head of what it would become." Only three months into her tenure at the company, that picture came into focus. Kane and colleagues from our underwater and acoustics department used the lab’s 620,000-gallon tank to research acoustic communications protocols for one of our government sponsors. The other thing that came into focus: Kane’s realization of her long-time dream to work in the maritime space.
American warfighters operate under some extreme conditions. Consider the glacier Arctic, where temperatures can drop below -60F degrees. In this remote region, U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) conduct missions vital to U.S. national sovereignty and security. But what happens to military equipment and supplies at those ultra-frigid temperatures? Fuel and hydraulic lines freeze, battery life gets sapped, and generators and heaters run continuously—making power supply and distribution a massive challenge. That’s why MITRE collaborated with U.S. military and industry partners to create high-performance systems to supply resilient energy in the most-severe cold. In the works since 2022, four novel technologies are now undergoing final prototyping, which will support a transition to fielded operational units. “As they cover the spectrum of military energy requirements in the Arctic, these systems will enable the U.S. to counter threats and reduce risk to combatant command operations,” says Jeth Fogg, NORAD and NORTHCOM’s senior technical advisor in the Logistics and Engineering Directorate.
“Don’t talk to strangers!” Growing up, we heard that a lot. These days, the warning requires a footnote—because for young people who spend a good chunk of their lives on the internet, talking to people you don’t know is a natural part of the allure. “Kids are already living online, using social media, and gaming,” says ATT&CK's Deputy Lead Amy Robertson. “For their safety, they should be aware of the malicious people who could be on the other end of their screens.” More than a decade ago, MITRE developed ATT&CK to formally raise awareness about said “bad actors.” It has since become the global gold standard for the collective cybersecurity community tracking adversary behavior in the wild. As stewards of the free resource, a MITRE team—including Robertson—provides context and a common language for adversary tactics and techniques. They also share intel for how to defend against clever hackers. The tool’s value to cybersecurity practitioners is obvious, but ATT&CK’s leadership also believes in the benefit of sharing knowledge with novice audiences. Over the years, Robertson, Courtney Clark (ATT&CK's strategy lead), Lauren Lusty (ATT&CK's enterprise lead), and others have presented ATT&CK 101 primers at more than a dozen high schools and college classes. Recently, Robertson introduced ATT&CK and core cyber concepts to an even younger generation, starting with first through third grade Girl Scouts.
Emily Pertl genuinely likes problem solving, and she’s happiest when her skills make something better. A principal data science engineer in MITRE’s Intelligence Center, Pertl dedicates her time outside of work to tackling an intractable problem in her community: hunger. Pertl works in our Clarksburg, West Va., location and lives in neighboring Monongalia “Mon” County on the Pennsylvania border. She moved to the area from New Jersey, earning her bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate from West Virginia University. While Mon County is known for its beauty and recreation, “there are pockets of deep poverty,” says Pertl, who joined MITRE in 2016. “One in five kids in West Virginia face food insecurity, meaning they don’t know when they’ll eat next. And those are just the kids we know of.” Pertl says many families don’t access assistance for fear of feeling judged or ashamed. For the past six years, she has served in multiple roles—as vice president, treasurer, and food distribution lead for Pantry Plus More. The Pantry is a nonprofit committed to “ending hunger and giving every child equal opportunity to succeed in learning.” The Pantry’s mission hits home for Pertl, who remembers sparse shelves near the end of the month before her mom got her paycheck. She takes to heart what her mom told her growing up: “Do better than me.”
Surrounded by some of the foremost experts in tech, science, health, and defense, early-career professionals at MITRE never lack for guidance and advice. But they also gain and share knowledge from another source: each other. NextUp, an internal employee group, operates for early-career professionals by early-career professionals across our two main campuses and 10 additional sites across the United States. Built from a collective desire to combine personal development and network-building, the group provides an opportunity for staff just entering the workforce to develop leadership skills. “Not all companies offer a group like NextUp," says Megan McCulley, a Fort Meade, Md.-based applied cybersecurity engineer. “Immediately coming into a new job as a young professional doesn’t always put you in a place to meet others at this stage—but NextUp fills that hole at MITRE.”
