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MITRE Corporation is a Bedford, Massachusetts-based cybersecurity non-profit organization working with the United States government to provide various services, including cybersecurity and managing federally-funded research and development centers that work to support U.S. government agencies.
MITRE was formed in 1958 under the leadership of Clair W. Halligan. It was initially founded to provide direction and leadership to the companies and workers involved in the U.S. Air Force SAGE project, a large computer and networking equipment system used to direct data from multiple radar sites.
The initial staff at MITRE corporation were employee transfers from the Lincoln Laboratory, located at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Often, it is assumed that MITRE received its name from MIT. However, the name was developed by James McCormack, an early MITRE board member, who wanted a meaningless name without connotations for the institution.
In April of 1959, MITRE purchased a Bedford, Massachusetts property to develop a new MITRE laboratory. The building had occupancy by September of the same year.
When the SAGE project ended in the early 1960s, MITRE was selected by the FAA to develop similar systems for air traffic control, which came to be known as the modern National Airspace System (NAS). To foster more projects and support from the U.S. Department of Defense, located at the Pentagon, MITRE corporation opened a second location in McLean, Virginia.
Throughout the duration of the 1960s, MITRE offered development and support to military Command, Control, and Communications Intelligence (C3I), ARPA, and DoD early warning projects. Some of the projects MITRE assisted in include the following:
- Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS)
- Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET)
- Joint Surveillance and Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS)
- Joint Tactical Information Distribution System (JTIDS)
In 1982, MITRE authored a proposal for the State Department calling for the eradication of cannabis in 121 days for the cost of $19 million. The project was called "Cannabis Eradication in Foreign Western Nations." The proposal outlined the safety and considerations of paraquat, an herbicide used to kill weeds and plants, and the spreading of it across marijuana grow operations in participating countries. The project did not move forward due to concerns around contamination of nearby farms growing food crops.
