 |
Steve Allanson |
A Home Away from Home in Tokyo
Steve Allanson
June 2010
MITRE's Steve Allanson has spent most of his career in two very different locales—the rugged terrain of southeast Arizona and the dense urban center of Tokyo, Japan—and he enjoys them both. As a network systems engineer, Allanson provides command and control support to the Tokyo site's customers, the Japanese Air Self Defense Forces and the Japanese Joint Staff.
Originally hired at the corporation's Fort Huachuca, Arizona, site, Allanson has been at MITRE's Tokyo site since the fall of 2006. However, he had worked in both areas prior to starting at MITRE. "I went to school in Tucson, and my wife and I love the Arizona weather," he says. "We also have family in Japan so I have worked in both places over the years."
His transfer to Japan proved to be fortuitous. "When I first saw the position opening in Tokyo, I was working at the Fort Huachuca site. I applied for the job and got it," he says. "It was good timing, because my Japanese mother-in-law had been ill and needed some help. Being able to work for the same company but from a different site was the perfect solution."
Supporting Bilateral Interoperability
During his time at the Tokyo site, Allanson has been supporting bilateral networking interface efforts. "These are part of the classified network used by the Japanese military and our military to share information during their day-to-day activities, and during exercise activities," he says. "I also support improvements to the Japanese command and control capabilities." The bulk of Allanson's work supports the Japanese Central Command System (CCS), which is part of the Japanese Self Defense Forces (JSDF).
MITRE's Tokyo, Japan site
MITRE has maintained a site in Tokyo for more than 30 years. The six-person staff supports two foreign military sales (FMS) cases managed by the U.S. Air Force Electronic Systems Center, one of MITRE's sponsors. The site's customers are the Japanese Air Self Defense Forces and Japanese Joint Staff. The Tokyo site is the only MITRE site dedicated exclusively to FMS work. |
|
| |
"The Tokyo site supports a number of projects," he says. "In one, we're helping the Japanese contractor that's designing the new central command system to meet the system integration requirements. Our team's efforts focus on ensuring interoperability between the JSDF's systems and the American military systems that connect to the bilateral network—technologies such as email, Web services, and chat. We also do quite a bit of groundwork for the Japanese when it comes to interoperability. We help design the interfaces between the Japanese systems and the bilateral network. This is especially important in the bilateral interoperability area, where the systems must work together to share necessary operational information."
Having spent his entire MITRE career at two sites, Allanson is accustomed to being far from corporate headquarters. However, he doesn't hesitate to draw on the reservoir of knowledge and expertise of MITRE staff at other locations. "It's nice to be able to tap the brains of the company when necessary. This is especially true when working at a small site, like here in Tokyo—we only have six staff. Since it's not possible to have all of the answers on site, being able to find the answer quickly is very important. I feel fortunate to be working with a lot of smart people, even if some of them are halfway around the world."
From Arizona to Asia and Back Again
While many staff may regard relocating to a foreign country as an adventure into the unknown, for Allanson moving to Japan was an opportunity to return to an area he knew well. "I've spent a lot of time living in Japan over the years—both in the military and in the civilian work environment—so there was not much of an adjustment when I came back in 2006."
However, having moved to and from Japan before, he is quick to point out that MITRE's corporate transfer policies made the relocating process easier. "Our moves went well," Allanson says. "MITRE does a good job providing assistance and taking into consideration some of the little things, such as helping you sell your car or renting foreign housing."
He continues, "My wife is Japanese, so she really came home when we moved here. Her family was very happy to have her back for a while. But she really misses our home in Arizona, where she has a large vegetable garden. And our four-year-old Labrador puppy misses his big, open backyard—it's pretty tough to run around much in a Japanese house. So we frequently take him to the neighborhood park where he can 'practice' his dog activities. It also gives us the chance to chat with neighbors and enjoy the outdoors."
Now after four years at the Tokyo site, Allanson and his wife are heading back to Arizona. He transferred back to MITRE's Fort Huachuca site in the spring of 2010.
—by Kay M. Upham
Related Information
Articles and News
Technical Papers and Presentations
Websites
|
