Follow Us:

Since 1998, Sheila Hansen has been to the following countries: Austria, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Nigeria, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Uzbekistan. Here she is standing in a market in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Imagine traveling the world assisting countries to modernize their command, control, communications and computers (C4) systems. Since 1998, MITRE's Sheila Hansen has done just that, visiting several countries as part of the team conducting United States-sponsored studies for countries that are part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) Partnership for Peace (PfP) program.

To date she has completed C4 modernization studies for the Ministries of Defense of Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Latvia, Croatia, and Estonia.

Hansen's most recent journey took her to Uzbekistan in Central Asia, a former republic of the Soviet Union. Under the C4 studies program, MITRE's role is to produce an assessment of a nation's readiness for US/NATO interoperability; define a target C4 interoperability architecture; and recommend a tailored, phased modernization program. These studies aim to identify constructive actions that the PfP countries can take to modernize their C4 systems, with a focus on interoperability.

Sheila Hansen posing at the wall in Samarkand built by the Gur Emir Mausoleum circa 1400.

"I got started on these modernization studies in 1998," says Hansen, an information systems engineer in MITRE's Center for Air Force Command and Control Systems. "For most of the previous 18 years I had been working on air defense and information systems so transitioning to the C4 modernization studies was a logical step. With my technical background and domain knowledge it was a good fit."

"But I have found that the modernization studies require a lot of people skills as well as technical expertise," continues Hansen. "Working with translators can be difficult—you need to be patient and willing to put in the extra effort to get the answers you need."

The C4 modernization studies have a widespread impact on PfP countries. They summarize what types of communications and information systems architectures the countries need to be interoperable with NATO and the United States. The studies also outline a phased implementation process to allow for long-term planning and budgeting.

"I feel a great deal of satisfaction helping countries on their path to becoming NATO members," Hansen adds. "I'm proud of the studies' final reports. Their value is clear—they help make these countries more capable NATO partners. They benefit the United States too—we can rely on more capable partners, which allows us to better utilize our own resources."

And what does Hansen like most about the work? "Visiting the different countries and working with their people," she says. "Each study is done fairly quickly, usually in 6 to 9 months, so you get to see the PfP country receive the finished product. It's been very gratifying to see their acceptance of our recommendations. Working with my peers at MITRE has been rewarding too—they are a dedicated and talented group of individuals."

	Established in 1994, Partnership for Peace (PfP) is a major program of bilaterial cooperation between NATO and individual countries to enhance international stability and security. PfP promotes joint actions for national defense planning, military budgeting, peacekeeping, and disaster-response operations.