Army Community - Army Discussions - Army Times

Stopping IED threats

The two-year-old Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization has the critical — and so far, elusive — mission of living up to its own name. The insurgent networks that build and plant IEDs to kill U.S. and coalition troops in Iraq remain far from defeated.

By the time JIEDDO was created, the insurgents had a running start. They have planted thousands of bombs since the war started in March 2003.

IEDs accounted for 32 percent of war-zone deaths during the first 12 months of the war, according to Defense Department casualty data, but today, in the fifth year of the war, that number is up to 76 percent.

JIEDDO has been given wide latitude and a pile of money — $8 billion — to combat this growing killer. But so far, its success is spotty. Members of Congress want to know what’s become of that money and why they should invest another $4.5 billion next year.

The organization, having shifted from hardware solutions to a more strategic emphasis on finding and attacking the bomb-making networks, is at a crossroads. Its first leader, retired Army Gen. Montgomery Meigs, resigned over the summer, and he has yet to be replaced.

For JIEDDO to be effective, it will need a dynamic leader who understands the complexity of the problem, the greater potential role of industry in the fight, and the workings of Pentagon bureaucracy in order to make things happen quickly with the substantial funding at his disposal.

Time is of the essence.

The enemy in Iraq, possibly aided by terrorist networks out of Iran, has constantly upgraded its abilities to kill with roadside bombs. JIEDDO must outmatch the rising threat at every turn.