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Susan Gogos

While the Internet provides valuable and vast resources to researchers everywhere, it also presents a challenge to information providers. The need to select, evaluate, and disseminate the right information in a timely manner is paramount. MITRE relies on its Center for Information and Technology—including Information Analyst Susan Gogos—to provide an array of resources to meet this challenge.

Gogos is responsible for compiling information and publishing the Homeland Security Newsletter (HSN). The HSN is a daily online newsletter designed to keep MITRE staff throughout the organization informed of daily events in the homeland security industry and government arenas. Primarily an internal newsletter accessible through the corporate intranet, it focuses on issues related to MITRE's work program.

Gogos came to MITRE three years ago, after spending several years working in the restaurant industry, including a couple of years as a pastry chef. Ready for a career change, she completed her Master's in Information Science at the University of Maryland in 2000 and put her new skills to work at MITRE shortly thereafter. "My work is really a combination of searching online journals, scanning newspapers, and using Google News to get the news nuggets—those items that are not reported in the major newspapers, like state and local issues and product press releases," she explains. "I scan several newspapers daily—The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Los Angeles Times, as well as government-oriented sources such as Government Executive, Government News, Federal Computer News and Washington Technology. I also review a number of Web sites, including those of the White House, Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Administration, Transportation Security Administration, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection."

Not surprisingly, producing an electronic newsletter requires many traditional library skills such as asking the right questions, knowing where to obtain the appropriate information, and determining the credibility of the source. Plus, working online provides access to a wealth of information and speedy searching. However, sifting through the vast amount of electronic information and evaluating the reliability of the information can be challenging.

"A big part of producing a newsletter is having a clear understanding of the topic and what our staff needs to know to keep up-to-date on it," continues Gogos. "Information Services works hard to provide information of value to all MITRE staff," she says. "I really enjoy the act of gathering information and presenting it in a meaningful way to people who can then use it to better help our sponsors. Plus, in my three years at MITRE most of my work has focused on providing information related to safer air travel and homeland security—it's a good feeling to know I'm helping in those efforts."

When asked what is the most challenging aspect of publishing the HSN, Gogos is quick to answer. "Finding the time to review and summarize all the different sources of homeland security information," she says. "Luckily, I'm able to use a formatting software originally created by MITRE. The engineers adapted it to fit the needs of the newsletter; it streamlines the online publishing process by automatically forming a pdf file."

—by Kay Upham