JIEDDO - About

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| History | Leadership |

Improvised explosive devices – known worldwide as IEDs – are the weapon of choice of terrorists because they require limited skills to build and provide dramatic results for very little investment of time, money and effort. The public relations benefit of a surprising spectacular explosion far outweighs attacks using more conventional weapons. Because of this, the IED has become the weapon of choice.

With easy access to commercial technologies, Internet training and the ability to either make or obtain explosive materials, IEDs continue to provide the enemy an inexpensive, stand-off, precision weapons systems with near total anonymity.

While not a 21st century weapon, the IED became the insurgent weapon of choice during the war in Iraq. Even though the use of IEDs in Iraq has steadily declined since the summer of 2007, they continue to have devastating effect on U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan.

IEDs will continue to be a threat throughout the world – they will never go away. They will grow in sophistication and frequency as more enemies of peace realize the potential psychological, social and political impact a weapon like this provides. There is no other widely available terror weapon that provides the mass media focus, sheer panic and strategic influence than the IED.

Faced with the escalating use of IEDs in Iraq, the Army Chief of Staff established the Army IED Task Force in October 2003. The task force reached out to Army components, the other services, the private sector and academia to improve threat-intelligence gathering, acquire counter-IED technologies and develop counter-IED training for U.S. troops on the battlefield.

Task force early successes drove down casualty rates per IED attack despite an increased in-theater use. This led then-Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul D. Wolfowitz to transform the Army-led organization into a joint IED task force and have it report directly to him. The once-small group could now leverage experience and expertise of warfighters across the services, enhance its network attack focus, increase procurement of device-defeat tools and build a robust set of IED-specific force training operations.

In February 2006 DoD Directive 2000.19E formally established the Joint IED Defeat Organization.

The Joint IED Defeat Organization, known as JIEDDO, is organized along a deputy director structure with supporting divisions aligned under a chief of staff. The focus is along three primary lines of operation: attacking the network, defeating the device, and training the force.

What makes JIEDDO truly unique is its rapid acquisition ability. Once a combatant commander requirement has been validated, JIEDDO can develop a solution and have it making a positive effect on the battlefield in as little as three-to-four months — 75 percent faster than the regular military acquisition process.

JIEDDO is focused on six areas: driving down the effectiveness of IED attacks; homemade explosives, primarily made from fertilizer; the threat to dismounted operations in Afghanistan; the transition from coalition security to the Iraqi government; working toward a whole-of-government approach to resolve the challenges associated with IEDs; and on the resurgence of improvised rocket-aided munitions in Iraq.