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Dan Morgan |
A Silicon Valley Native Appreciates His Adopted
Home
Dan Morgan
October 2005
MITRE's European Operations encompass seven sites throughout Europe.
The site at RAF Molesworth is a small one, comprised of seven staff,
but functions as a valuable partner to the European Command (EUCOM)
Joint Analysis Center (JAC), an all-source intelligence analysis
and fusion organization that provides EUCOM and U.S. allies with
finished intelligence. MITRE's Dan Morgan has spent the last 13
years, his entire MITRE career, at the Molesworth site.
Prior to joining the company in 1993, Morgan was working for a
for-profit contractor at Molesworth. When that contract ended, he
joined MITRE's European Operations department at the Molesworth
site. "As my wife Rowena was born and raised in England it was a
long-term goal to spend some time living nearer to her family,"
he says. "However, signing on with MITRE was a strategic career
move, not just a way of staying in the U.K. The two previous companies
I worked for were both for-profit defense contractors and had very
different perspectives. I wanted a job that I thought was worth
doing, and that's what I found at MITRE."
As a multi-discipline systems engineer, Morgan spends the bulk
of his time working with a combination of MITRE and government people
to improve information sharing and collaboration throughout the
JAC. In the two years following 9/11, his efforts were geared towards
helping improve information technology support to counterterrorism
analysis. Prior to that, his work focused on improving digital production
and dissemination of intelligence reports. As Morgan explains, "The
work varies a lot over time. Currently there are five MITRE engineers
at the site, so covering all the sponsor's interest areas is a challenge.
Site work requires you to become adept at constantly learning new
things quickly and finding and utilizing the experts throughout
the company."
Morgan, a native of Silicon Valley, has spent the majority of his
career working abroad. And while his British wife and children are
very much at home in the U.K., Morgan had to make a few adjustments
to the British way of life. "The generally smaller sizes of houses,
even compared to Germany, where we lived prior to England, was a
big change," he says. "And of course, learning to drive here was
difficult at first. You're not only on the 'wrong' side of the road,
in what used to be the passenger's seat, but the steering wheel
is coming out of the glove compartment. You concentrate on keeping
to the left side of the road and all of a sudden realize you're
having trouble shifting into third because you're trying to use
the window roller instead of the gear lever."
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Dan Morgan and his dog,
Pilot, at home in front of his 'new' old house. |
Other challenges include his most recent home renovation project:
working on his "new" house—a Tudor cottage that has sections
dating back to the 1600s. "Until about a hundred years ago the house
was on the grounds of the nearby manor house and was most likely
where one of the household staff lived," he says. "We're having
fun trying to piece together the history of the house. Since moving
in, we've been modernizing various things, such as overhauling the
scary wiring, insulating some of the walls and installing a shower
in the one and only bathroom shared by our family of four. Fortunately,
I've been able to do everything but the electrical work myself."
When asked what he misses the most about living in the U.S., Morgan
is quick to respond. "Closets and doughnuts," he says with a laugh.
"It sounds silly, but try emptying out a couple of large closets
in your house then figure out what you're going to do with all that
stuff. As for doughnuts and other specialty foods, like southern
barbecue, while you can find them in various places around the world,
they somehow just aren't the same. To paraphrase something C. S.
Lewis said 'You might hear a hyena and think it was a lion, but
when you hear a lion you know you've heard a lion.'"
Despite the adjustments, Morgan enjoys his life in the U.K. and
appreciates the diversity and challenges of living abroad. "I think
more people should consider taking an assignment with MITRE at one
of the company's overseas locations," he says. "Living in another
country enriches your life and increases your understanding of the
world in a way that books or tourist travel cannot."
—by Kay M. Upham
MITRE's RAF Molesworth Site
MITRE established its Royal Air Force (RAF) Molesworth site in
1992 to support the European Command Joint Analysis Center (JAC).
The seven-person MITRE staff is onsite with the JAC at RAF Molesworth,
which is located approximately 75 miles north of London, England.
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