JIEDDO BECOMES COMBAT SUPPORT AGENCY TO COUNTER IED THREATS WORLDWIDE

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
Combat Support Agency Counters Worldwide IED Threats
By Terri Moon Cronk
DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, April 6, 2015 – The organization that has fought for a decade to defeat improvised explosive devices used by American enemies in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars has become a combat support agency, its director said in a recent interview.

The Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization -- known as JIEDDO -- was realigned under the defense undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics March 11 and is “here to stay,” Army Lt. Gen. John D. Johnson told DoD News.

Johnson said he wants to ensure every commander and warfighter is aware of the agency’s capabilities to support those in the field.

Johnson added that DoD’s senior leadership recognized that the global threat of IEDs is not going away, and that the agency’s new status means the capabilities it provides will be around a long time.

As a Defense Department function, the general said, the agency has better access to other DoD capabilities to “collaborate and to make sure we’re providing even better support to deployed service members.”

JIEDDO Established During Wars

Johnson said the need for JIEDDO became great when IEDs were killing and injuring large numbers of service members, and JIEDDO stood up as a joint organization from an Army task force in 2006 at the height of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The military realized it needed an organization to work across the entire spectrum of the problem by analyzing IED threats and developing training and new equipment for warfighters, he added.

Today, “we track IEDs around the world, and in past 12 months, over 26,000 IED events caused 55,000 casualties,” the JIEDDO director pointed out.

“Gratefully, very few were Americans,” he added, “but it means that anywhere U.S. troops deploy, they are going to be at risk of IEDs.”

JIEDDO works to connect a variety of IED experts early within deploying units’ training cycles, Johnson said, so warfighters are knowledgeable of terrorist networks and the types of battlefield support the combat support agency will provide them.

Embedding Experts with Troops

JIEDDO experts range from intelligence analysts, operational experts, and combat advisers that offer training and adaptable solutions to warfighters and forces building allies’ capacities to improve counter-IED efforts, Johnson said.
These experts embed with U.S. forces from the start of deployment, regardless of assignment, from maritime crisis response forces, the Army’s regionally aligned forces or special operations, the general said.

Embedding experts helps troops and commanders understand what they’re seeing and how best to use the resources at their disposal to deal with threats, protect forces and defeat the enemy, he said.

JIEDDO a ‘Game Changer’ After Wars

JIEDDO brought a game changer to the table after its work during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, in which it provided a warfighter package of urgently needed training, analytical support and equipment to counter IED threats, the general said. Today, those capabilities reach across the globe, he added.

“We can apply the analysis to new training techniques, new tactics, equipment, and significantly enhance how our ground forces do business,” he said. “We help warfighters adapt.”

A key issue of IED proliferation by a variety of terrorist networks is that these homemade bombs use products such as fertilizer and cheap, commercial-grade explosives used in farming and mining, so the materials are available just about anywhere, Johnson pointed out.

Compounding the expanding IED global presence is that terrorist networks share information, he said.

“The enemies are very innovative, and they share their ideas and innovations. If we see IEDs that have success in one place, we can guarantee you we’re likely to see it elsewhere,” Johnson said.

And it’s that very type of information JIEDDO shares with forces deployed around the world so warfighters are better prepared and equipped to handle the problem, in addition to having reachback to national level resources, the director explained.

‘Global IED Threats to Continue’

There was some thought that JIEDDO might cease to exist following the end of the two wars, Johnson said, but that is not the case.

“The truth is, we’re going to face IEDs anywhere we go in the world,” he emphasized. “IEDs have proliferated around the world, and they challenge security forces across the globe. Now we’re back helping the Iraqis with the problems there, and our enemies are using IEDs in greater numbers all the time.”
Because of that global threat, JIEDDO’s business model is well entrenched for efforts in the Middle East, but also counters the IED threat in various other regions of the world such as Africa, South America, the Far East and the Pacific region, Johnson said.

JIEDDO’s mission is far-reaching, but has a central goal, he said.

“We provide counter-IED capabilities that allow [service members] to adapt and be that No. 1 weapon on the battlefield,” said Johnson, who described service members as “the most trained, most capable weapon.”

COLOMBIA RECEIVES U.S. MILITARY ASSISTANCE TO CURB IED ATTACKS

FROM:   U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 

U.S. Military Helps Colombia Fight IED Threat

From a U.S. Southern Command News Release

MIAMI, July 10, 2014 – Miles away from the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, improvised explosive devices are wreaking havoc in other parts of the world. Colombia, Pakistan, India and Syria rank high on a list of countries where this “invisible enemy” is leaving a trail of deaths and injuries.

In Latin America, most notably in Colombia, insurgents and criminal organizations build and employ bombs with the intent to cause devastation to government forces as well as innocent civilians. In fact, IEDs have become the weapon of choice of these organizations, desperate to find a force multiplier as they experience increased personnel losses.

“According to statistics, Colombia ranks first in the world, outside of Afghanistan and Iraq, in IED incidents,” said Juan Hurtado, science advisor at the U.S. Southern Command, the U.S. military geographic command that works with countries in Central and South America and the Caribbean to promote security and stability in the Western Hemisphere.

These deadly devices are made out of commercial-grade explosives, various explosive precursors, fertilizer, nails, nuts, bolts, and other objects.
In less than a year, between March 2013 and February 2014, a total of 2,356 IED events were reported in Colombia. The aftermath: 707 casualties, according to statistics compiled by the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization.
JIEDDO was established by the Defense Department in 2006 in response to the alarming increase in fatalities and injuries caused by roadside bombs and other makeshift artifacts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Within Southcom’s area of responsibility, Colombia has 95 percent of all IED activity and 98 percent of all IED-related injuries.

To help change this concerning reality, Hurtado said, Southcom and JIEDDO have joined efforts, through the U.S. Military Group in Colombia, to collaborate with the Colombian military and police in search of cooperative and innovative ways for IED threat mitigation. The idea is to leverage the painful lessons learned and investments made during years in research and development, and to harness the “brain power” of Colombian and U.S. experts committed to this fight.
“A key element in this formula is the world-class support we are receiving from JIEDDO,” Hurtado said. “They have dealt with this threat for almost a decade, and they are eager to share lessons learned and benefit from the experiences of others.”
The science and technology division that Hurtado heads at Southcom hosts JIEDDO experts and coordinates counter-IED support on behalf of the command’s theater engagement division. His main efforts, he said, are to scope the level of activities, enable collaboration to assist regional requirements and formulate a sustainable path.

Together, Hurtardo said, they are working with the U.S. Embassy Country Team, the U.S. Military Group and Colombia’s organizations such as the office of the vice minister of defense, the Joint Directorate for Explosives and Demining -- known as DICED, its Spanish acronym -- and the Colombian army’s Counter IED and Mines National Center -- known as CENAM, its Spanish acronym -- in advancing a roadmap for collaboration against IEDs -- the weapon of choice for insurgents and criminal organizations in Colombia.

As the Colombian government increases pressure against FARC -- the Spanish acronym for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia -- the group desperately looks for new ways to offset its losses and delay the advance of the public forces into territories under their control, illegal coca cultivation areas and illicit drug labs, said Charles Brady, JIEDDO’s liaison officer and counter-IED integrator to Southcom.

According to CENAM officials, about 75 percent of the events affecting Colombian troops are related to IED incidents. Stood up in 2014, CENAM was created to assist with the IED challenges with a holistic approach, in cooperation with other government and nongovernment national and international partners.
The roadmap for collaboration that Brady referenced is comprehensive and was signed by Colombia’s vice minister of defense for policy and international affairs and JIEDDO in April 2013. It encompasses a framework of working groups that assist in the development of solutions to capability gaps such as identifying the need of protective garments and improved detection equipment for Colombian military troops.

The collaboration plan also includes support to sophisticated interagency efforts such as the creation of a national level counter-IED database and the establishment of standard evidence collection procedures that can enable the judiciary process.
Another key line of effort Southcom and JIEDDO are working on with Colombia is in the field of intelligence and data analysis technics. The idea, Brady said, is to leverage each other’s knowledge and expertise to attack the criminal and terrorist networks at their roots.

This effort is a two-way avenue, Brady said, noting that the work DICED, CENAM and others are advancing in Colombia will allow JIEDDO and Southcom to assist partner nations that may face a similar situation.

“Globally, we are seeing an increase in the use of these homemade bombs and their devious emplacement,” he said. “The U.S. has learned a great deal from Colombia about enemy tactics. We now understand their techniques for employment and the nature of the devices. This information is vital to our forces.”
On a recent visit to the United States, Vice Minister of Defense for Policy and International Affairs Jorge Enrique Bedoya Vizcaya met with JIEDDO’s director, Army Lt. Gen. John D. Johnson, and Southcom’s director of theater engagement, Navy Rear Adm. George Ballance, to review the current cooperation efforts and establish major goals for the near future. Crafting a whole-of-government approach by Colombia for counter-IED efforts, developing a centralized Defense Ministry counter-IED organizational structure, and increasing information exchanges to help build capacity in this field are among those goals, officials said.
Earlier this year the U.S. Military Group supported and facilitated the participation of six explosive ordnance disposal and IED experts from the U.S. Navy’s Counter-IED Center of Excellence at Indian Head, Maryland, in an exchange with Colombian forces.

Designed to develop capabilities for evidence and forensic analysis from bombs, the subject-matter expert exchange occurred at the Tolemaida National Training Center, the main Colombian Army training base, and involved the participation of 46 students from the Colombian Public Forces.

Every step taken in this direction, Southcom’s science advisor said, is a step forward in the battle against IEDs and the organizations behind them. Looking at statistics from last year, displayed on a Google-like map of the world, Hurtado pointed out that although the number of IED incidents actually increased in Colombia, the number of casualties shrunk significantly.

“That’s an important improvement,” he said. “Is it related in any way to the combined efforts? It is probably too soon to say, but what I do see is a rise in the discovery of IED caches and the found-and-cleared rate by trained personnel.”
Still, Hurtado said, much remains to be done against a scourge that is constantly evolving to stay relevant and that threatens to spread to other nations in the Western Hemisphere.

MORE EFFORT NEEDED TO COUNTER IEDs, JIEDDO DIRECTOR TELLS SENATE

Sgt. Michael Quandt, an Afghan Local Police trainer with Company D, 1st Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, attached to 2nd Special Troops Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, relays instructions through an interpreter to an ALP officer during an improvised explosive device training lane at Joint Combat Outpost Masaw, Afghanistan, Sept. 15, 2011. The lane focused on teaching the ALP about identifying and securing IEDs.

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

More Effort Needed to Counter IEDs, General Says
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Dec. 14, 2012 – The Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization has made progress against IEDs, "but it isn’t enough," Army Lt. Gen. Michael D. Barbero told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday.

In Afghanistan, much of the fertilizer used in explosives comes from Pakistan, and Barbero, who directs JIEDDO, said he understands the importance of working with Pakistani officials.

"The U.S., led by the State Department, continues to seek a relationship with Pakistan that is constructive and advances both U.S. and Pakistani interests," the general told the Senate panel yesterday.

The importance of countering the threat posed by IEDs and of attacking threat networks cannot be overstated, Barbero said.

"Counter-IED is an area ripe for cooperation between the United States and Pakistan and I am also encouraged by the recent positive tone in our discussions with the government of Pakistan and the assurances from our Pakistani counterparts," he said.

But Barbero emphasized that Pakistan must do more. More than 60 percent of U.S. combat casualties in Afghanistan, both killed and wounded in action, are caused by IEDs. This year IEDs killed or wounded almost 1,900 Americans. Pakistanis have also suffered from these devices.

"It is in their interest to increase counter-IED cooperation with us and take effective actions against these networks," Barbero said.

Afghanistan has banned ammonium nitrate-based fertilizers. Yet these remain the main explosive used in IEDs. "Today more than 85 percent of the IEDs employed against coalition forces are homemade explosives," Barbero said. "And of those, about 70 percent are made with ammonium nitrate derived from the fertilizer calcium ammonium nitrate, referred to as CAN, a common agriculture fertilizer produced in and transited through Pakistan."

While the fertilizer is produced elsewhere, Pakistan is almost exclusively the source of the chemical compound used in IEDs, he said. Another chemical compound, potassium chlorate, is used in Pakistan’s textile and matchstick industries, and is also being used to make IEDs in Afghanistan.

"In concert with our Pakistani partners, we must address the continued flow of ammonium nitrate-based fertilizers and other IED materials into Afghanistan," the general told senators.

Coalition and Afghan forces seized 30 tons of fertilizer in 2009, compared to 440 tons so far in 2012. "The high number of IED incidents and the growing seizure rates highlight the continued lack of effective measures to impede the supply of IED materials into Afghanistan from Pakistan," he said.

Barbero said he is working with the Pakistani fertilizer producer to counter the illicit use of the product as an explosive. The general said he is also working with U.S. and international fertilizer organizations to put controls in place on fertilizers.

"While international and U.S. professional fertilizer associations are receptive and actively addressing these issues, the producers within Pakistan have been less than cooperative," he said. "Despite making minor packaging, tracking and marketing changes, they have not implemented any effective product security or stewardship efforts."

The Pakistani producers can and must do more, Barbero said.

"While the government of Pakistan has taken military actions to address the IED threat and go after these networks, these efforts remain focused on Pakistan’s domestic threat and have had no measurable effect on the number of IED events in Afghanistan, on the flow of precursor materials smuggled across the border, or on the threat of networks operating in Pakistan who attack our troops in Afghanistan," the general said.

He emphasized that the U.S.-Pakistan dialogue has been improving, but more still must be done.

"We must move from discussing cooperation to actual cooperation," Barbero said, noting Pakistan has passed legislation, but has done little to implement the laws.

Military cooperation also remains stalled, Barbero told committee members.

"We must move beyond talking about cooperation to developing a comprehensive framework and then work together to address the shared problems," he said.