The three authors examined the Pentagon's Joint Improvised Explosive
Device Defeat Organization, established in 2005 to provide technological
solutions and tactics to foil IED attacks. IEDs have been responsible for
more than 50 percent of U.S. casualties in Iraq.
Entitled "JIEDDO "Mired in Organizational Chaos," the report said
the three-year program has been hampered by a huge bureaucracy as well as
a flawed doctrine. The authors — Army Lt. Col. Richard Ellis, Air Force
Maj. Richard Rogers and Navy Lt. Cmdr. Bryan Cochran — asserted that the
organization has been limited to the search for technological solutions.
"It overly relies on technology to defeat an adaptive enemy who quickly
learns how to overcome our latest [technological] countermeasures," the
report said. "It is built around a technical solution approach focused on
research and development, testing and fielding the elusive 'silver bullet'
to defeat IEDs."
But the study said Iraqi insurgents have been successful in overcoming
U.S.-origin IED jammers. The officers suggested that military tactics would
be more practical and faster to deploy than the development of new
equipment.
"JIEDDO requires fundamental changes in its approach to combating IEDs,"
the report said. "It must redirect its efforts from a technological-based
approach and apply its resources to the development of a comprehensive,
strategic plan to combat IEDs."
JIEDDO, with at least 360 employees, requires an acquisition and
planning strategy and must focus on the "operational, logistics, and
intelligence" to counter the IED threat, the report said. The authors said
the new organization — being examined by the Government Accountability
Office — must come under the umbrella of the Joint Forces Command.
"JIEDDO should provide a DoD-level acquisition strategy, based on
Regional Combatant Commander priorities, that directs service execution of
material solutions," the report said. "A joint acquisition plan for
defeating IEDs would ensure unity of effort when the services budget for
their individual programs. However, by focusing on the short-term, technical
solution approach, JIEDDO created a structure that short-changed its
responsibility to guide the entire DoD effort to defeat IEDs."