GAO: Anti-IED efforts too uncoordinated

The U.S. military has made progress but still has work to do in coordinating its efforts to fight deadly improvised explosive devices (IEDs) being used against American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Government Accountability Office said in a new report Thursday.

The GAO’s analysis of the Pentagon’s Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO) found that the group has made improvements in collecting data and tracking successful anti-IED strategies since it was established in 2006, but still has no way of tracking all the efforts under way by the various divisions within the Pentagon and the armed services.

GAO analysts said value of the group’s work has been limited by the fact that “there is no comprehensive database of all existing counter-IED initiatives.”

Military leaders acknowledged at a congressional hearing Thursday they have work to do in coordinating and evaluating their efforts.

The Pentagon has roughly 500 initiatives under way to nullify IEDs — ranging from improving technology to collecting intelligence — leading to the likelihood of duplicated efforts, said William M. Solis, director of the GAO’s Defense Capabilities and Management division.

“What is a fair way of measuring how the American taxpayer is paying for these resources?” asked Rep. Vic Snyder, Arkansas Democrat and chairman of the House Armed Services oversight and investigations subcommittee.

“This metric business is very difficult; it eludes us in some ways,” Lt. Gen. Thomas F. Metz, JIEDDO director, replied.

The Pentagon established the anti-IED office four years ago to counter the growing threat of insurgents using IEDs in the Iraq war, but that threat quickly expanded to the war in Afghanistan and around the world as well.

JIEDDO has pursued a number of strategies to neutralize the threat of IEDs, including disarming the devices, targeting enemy networks and improving troop training, Gen. Metz said in his prepared remarks.

“The weapon of choice for violent extremists is the IED and will continue to be for some time,” Gen. Metz said. “We’re settling in for a marathon run. I think it’s a long fight against IEDs in a world that’s going to have a lot of instability.”