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Jennifer Webster and Douglas Webster

Douglas Webster came to MITRE because he liked its corporate culture and personality, especially its integrity. "It's a wonderful environment," says Doug. "The slogan, 'serving the public good' may sound old-fashioned, but that hit the nail on the head for me."

About a year later, Doug recommended MITRE to his daughter, Jennifer, who was working in the offshore oil industry. Jennifer sent in her resume and was soon hired as a simulation and modeling engineer. Jennifer says she likes MITRE because she learns something new every day. "At MITRE, there's tremendous variety in the work."

Father and daughter don't work at the same location, but they do both work in the same MITRE organization, the Center for Integrated Intelligence Systems, or CIIS. CIIS is part of the Department of Defense Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence federally funded research and development center.

Douglas Webster

Douglas is located at MITRE's Omaha site where he currently works on the Joint Integrated Analysis and Planning Capability for United States Strategic Command, Joint Forces Headquarters Information Operations. His project involves making different types of software applications work together to produce a more complete view and understanding of a given adversary and the associated "systems."

One of the things Doug likes best about MITRE is the way employees collaborate. "This has got to be one of the best companies for collaboration that I've encountered," he says. "When I ask for help, I may get only one answer, but sometimes I'll get a flood of emails on a specific subject. Sometimes folks know what you're working on and you don't have to ask for help. It's volunteered."

He also admires MITRE's forthrightness. "If there's bad news to give to a customer or a sponsor, MITRE is not shy about telling a client what they may not want to hear. The objectivity and integrity of our work demand it."

When asked how he feels about his daughter working at MITRE, he says, "I think it's great! She's a good fit. She has a background in mathematics and she studied foreign languages (Russian and French). Those things are ideal for an organization like MITRE."

With his daughter working in the same company, Doug is aware of the interplay between the two. "We benefit from each other's work experience. I'm a believer—and she is too—of age and youth playing off one another. We do have some heated disagreements, but we agree on many things."

Jennifer Webster

Jennifer was a senior at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln when her father started work at MITRE. She received her B.S. in Physics and Russian Language with a minor in mathematics in 2000. Before joining MITRE in McLean, Virginia, Jennifer was a well and reservoir evaluation engineer on oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. She grew tired, however, of working 100 hours a week on the rigs and getting little sleep.

"I wanted to get into intelligence work because I grew up in that environment," says Jennifer. "My dad talked about MITRE's work environment and I trusted his judgment. When I was hired, I was assigned a great mentor, Al Moyer, who worked at MITRE for 38 plus years and is now part time on call. It was great! I got to jump into new technology—researching wireless technology. I wanted to do good technical work and not be in the for-profit world. The quality of work life at MITRE is one of the best. Women who are married and just starting to have kids tell me how supportive MITRE is. I want to have a family someday, so it's important for me to think about that."

At MITRE, Jennifer started out in wireless, moved to communications, and then to Geographical Information Systems. "Now I'm doing more network IT work," says Jennifer. "I like providing unbiased technical knowledge to the government without having to worry about ties to the outside vendors. Our decisions are based strictly on the technology.

"Another thing I really love about the company is being able to reach out to other people in the company and get real feedback. You can't do that with a lot of for-profit contractors. In fact, our sponsors come to us and say, 'MITRE, you guys are really good at this. Can you send out an email and tap your experts?'

"I feel like I make a difference every day. That makes it very worthwhile to get up and go to work. The sponsors view us as resources and give us the hard problems to solve. That's what I like."

What do the two do for hobbies? Since Doug's background includes military deception and training in psychological operations, it's not surprising that magic is his hobby. As an amateur magician, Doug says he performs most frequently in front of a mirror. "There's nothing more amusing then when I fool myself and can say 'I didn't see me do that!'" However, he'll soon perform his 8-linking rings routine for the Order of the Eastern Star Masonic organization in Omaha.

Jennifer recently got into running. In June she ran the 5K Race for the Cure sponsored by the Susan G. Koman Breast Cancer Foundation. She is also involved in the local University of Nebraska Tri Delta Alumni Association doing fund raising for children's cancer programs.

Jennifer didn't take up magic, but she does get attention when she tells people she's licensed to operate explosives—a requirement for her previous job as a field engineer on oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. Doug noticed that when Jennifer first joined MITRE, "people were interested in her work in offshore oil, but they were fascinated that she had begun to get into explosives." However, she's not keeping that as a hobby.

—by David Van Cleave