The head of the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO) said yesterday he sees a need to maintain the Pentagon organization after troops leave Afghanistan, as explosive threats exist around the world and are addressed by the varied military services.
Army Lt. Gen. Michael Barbero, JIEDDO’s director, said it is wrong to ask if the Pentagon-wide organization will remain after the planned drawdown in 2014 of troops from Afghanistan, where he said improvised explosive devices (IEDs) remain “the weapon of choice.” JIEDDO was created in 2006 as reports increased of U.S. troops dying from roadside bombs and other forms of IEDs in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“The right question is, ‘Is the IED, and are the networks that employ (IEDs), here to stay?’ And they are,” Barbero said during a roundtable discussion. “So if we have an enduring threat do we require enduring capabilities? And the answer is, obviously, ‘Yes.’”
Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter will be examining over the next few months the future role of JIEDDO and other Pentagon task forces created to address urgent needs for equipment from deployed troops, Barbero said.
“But (Carter) has told us very clearly (that) our mission, our resourcing, our focus, our support through 2014 remains unchanged,” the JIEDDO head said at the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington.
Barbero said his view is that “there are certain problems and challenges that are best served with a joint response, and this is one of them.”
He noted the IED threat expands not only beyond Afghanistan but also beyond ground explosives to include those in the water and air. Thus, the military services have varied roles with IEDs. The Navy is working on combatting sea-based explosives and has the lead for counter radio-controlled IED electronic warfare. The Air Force, Army, and Marine Corps all bring other skills to the IED fight, Barbero noted.
“This is one that calls for a joint response, a joint organization that is tapped in to not just (U.S. Central Command) CENTCOM, as is our focus today, but all combatant commanders,” he said. “We receive requests for support from all combatant commanders for intelligence and analysis and also other capabilities.”
“And that’s going to grow in the future,” he added, noting such needs in Africa. “So it must be joint, it must be tied in with a global perspective.”
JIEDDO is working with the Navy on three specific IED efforts, he said. They involve sensors for detecting waterborne IEDs, underwater mapping sonar, and a “swimmer-threat-identification system.”
“I see this as an area where we need to become more engaged and more involved with the Navy,” he said.
Looking beyond Afghanistan, Barbero said he has told the defense industry the “days of us spending…hundreds of millions” of dollars on countering IEDs will be no more.
“We…have to be more effective and more efficient and…whatever we develop has to be expeditionary and has to apply in other regions other than Afghanistan,” he said.