Woman and man in a security control room surrounded by video monitors

Pioneering New Ways to Protect Our Nation

By Denise Schiavone
Cybersecurity

From the tragic events of 9/11 to countering today’s complex threats, protecting our country requires a holistic approach. We collaborate across multiple government agencies working in various domains—land, sea, air, and cyber—to safeguard the U.S.

The devastating events of 9/11 two decades ago triggered a new national defense focus: homeland security. Today, that mission involves much more than thwarting terrorists. 

From striving to prevent attacks, to responding decisively to disasters, to advancing U.S. economic security, the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) highest priority is safeguarding the American people. 

MITRE supports that priority, aiming to protect the U.S. in ways that touch Americans’ everyday lives. We work to strengthen transportation security, protect our borders, safeguard against cyber attacks—and more.

We serve DHS’s mission by collaborating across government agencies and on multiple fronts: land, sea, air, and cyber. Since the agency’s inception in 2002, we’ve provided deep systems thinking and interdisciplinary expertise to pioneer new innovations to help keep the nation safe.

In our role managing DHS’s federally funded Homeland Security Systems Engineering and Development Institute™ (HSSEDI), we serve as a national resource and objective adviser for accelerating homeland security capabilities. These include:

  • Developing software to provide a common operating picture for the U.S. Border Patrol, to improve detection and tracking of border crossings and deter illegal activities
  • Fortifying the Transportation Security Administration’s flight identity matching and vetting capabilities, to improve passenger safety and better mitigate threats to aviation security
  • Fighting disinformation about elections and COVID-19, with MITRE’s SQUINT™ application, a free, reliable way to report and correct bad information on social media
  • Protecting cyberspace through data-driven analysis of a suspected cyber highjacking campaign against federal systems, including those protecting critical infrastructure
  • Partnering across the DHS, Federal Aviation Administration, Department of Energy, and other agencies to counter non-traditional aviation threats like drones 
  • Leveraging the MITRE ATT&CK® framework to improve the government’s mobile device security
  • Collaborating with DoD to safeguard national sovereignty in the Arctic and Antarctic regions
  • Applying our simulation experiments (a.k.a. SIMEX™) capabilities to inform best practices for 21st century law enforcement

“HSSEDI’s deep understanding of DHS and its missions, combined with MITRE’s capabilities, help us bring the right mix of expertise that maximizes our impact on homeland security missions,” says HSSEDI VP and Director Yosry Barsoum.

Additionally, MITRE’s homeland security work is integrated with other work across the company, including cyber, health, transportation, and national security. This allows us to help guide critical integration efforts across the government and enhances all our mission areas.

“We are continually evolving to ensure we stay ahead of threats and are prepared to address current and future homeland security challenges,” Barsoum says.
 

Pioneering New Ways to Protect Our Nation. As an independent trusted adviser to our government sponsors, we help strengthen the safety and stability of our nation. Image 1 (Top left): MITRE developed software to improve detection and tracking of border crossings and deter illegal activities. Image 2 (Top right): We helped fortify the Transportation Security Administration’s flight identity capabilities, to improve passenger safety and aviation security. Image 3 (Bottom left): We’re collaborating with DoD to safeguard national sovereignty in the Arctic and Antarctic regions. Image 4 (Bottom right): MITRE experts provide data-driven analysis to help protect cyberspace and the security of federal systems.