Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization

The Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO, pronounced like "ji-dough") is a jointly operated organization of the U.S. Department of Defense established to reduce or eliminate the effects of all forms of improvised explosive devices used against U.S. and coalition forces.

Mission
The Department of Defense Directive 2000.19E defines JIEDDO's mission as: "The JIEDDO shall focus (lead, advocate, coordinate) all Department of Defense actions in support of the Combatant Commanders’ and their respective Joint task forces’ efforts to defeat IEDs as weapons of strategic influence."

Organization
Operating under the authority of the Deputy Secretary of Defense, JIEDDO's director serves as principal adviser to the Deputy Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on matters of IED defeat. 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.

Attack the Network

JIEDDO’s Attack the Network line of operation enables offensive operations against complex networks of financiers, IED makers, trainers and their supporting infrastructure by providing intelligence surveillance, reconnaissance, information operations, counter-bomber targeting, biometrics and weapons technical intelligence capabilities.

JIEDDO’s Counter-IED Operations/Intelligence Integration Center, or COIC, was established in August 2006 to support the combat commanders with fused analytical products to enable more precise attacks to defeat networks employing IEDs. The COIC works with a broad network of more than 30 government and intelligence agencies. Since its inception, COIC has provided more than 15,000 products in support of warfighters in theater and interagency requests for information.

Defeat the Device

The Defeat the Device line of operation enhances freedom of maneuver and safe operations for coalition forces, focusing on providing defensive technologies to detect IEDs, neutralize them before they can be detonated or mitigate the effects of detonation.

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 consolidates the Department of Defense's three major decision-making processes (acquisition, future requirements and financial management) under one authority to streamline decisions and allocation of resources. This, coupled with flexible funding authorities provided by Congress, enables JIEDDO to respond rapidly to the warfighter, threat and situation.

JIEDDO regularly recruits the help of private industry in developing solutions to meet each of the three lines of operation. Requests for proposals are regularly posted to private industry participants via the JIEDDO BIDS PORTAL

JIEDDO is currently focused on seeking solutions to the following counter-IED capability areas:
 * Counter threat-network: the ability to rapidly fuse operational information, intelligence and technology.
 * Detection: the ability to determine the location of emplaced IEDs and components through the purposed collection of observables.
 * Counter-device: the ability to neutralize IEDs before intended detonation (including the ability to trigger IEDs at the time and place of the warfighters choosing) or mitigate the effects following detonation.
 * Homemade explosives: the ability to limit the use and effectiveness of HME as an IED component.
 * Information integration and fusion: The ability to rapidly collect, analyze, fuse and disseminate information and intelligence to increase situational awareness.
 * Weapons technical intelligence: the ability to derive intelligence from processes and capabilities that collect, exploit and analyze asymmetric threat weapons systems to enable materiel source, support to prosecution, force protection and targeting of threat networks.
 * Counter-IED training: the ability to rapidly develop and deliver individual, collective and unit training for counter-IED enablers to facilitate their integration into operations.

Train the Force

Train the Force, one of three mutually supporting lines of operation, is a critical component of the JIEDDO mission to defeat the IED threat as a weapon of strategic influence.

The Joint Center of Excellence, established in April 2006, is JIEDDO's lead organization for the train-the-force line of operation and is responsible for development of training capabilities that enable the services' and combatant commanders' mission of preparing U.S. forces to defeat this threat. Led by JIEDDO's deputy director of Training, the JCOE, located at the Army's National Training Center, Fort Irwin, Calif., facilitates individual, collective and unit counter-IED training; enables the development and propagation of new tactics, techniques and procedures; and provides a venue for training and support for the experimentation and testing of emerging counter-IED equipment and concepts.

The JIEDDO training enterprise provides battle staff training support to joint and service institutions and assists with development of joint and service counter-IED doctrine and tactics, techniques and procedures. The training enterprise has contributed significantly to the institutionalization of combat-proven counter-IED training capabilities, ensuring they will remain readily available to warfighters. Additionally, the training enterprise has been instrumental in addressing the immediate training needs of units preparing for combat deployments.

In support of this mission, JCOE's four subordinate centers of excellence are strategically located at high-throughput training locations across the country. The Army Center of Excellence, also located at the National Training Center, supports Army fielding of new equipment and the integration of counter-IED training into corps, division and brigade combat team pre-deployment training. The Marine detachment, located at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif., supports Marine battalion and regimental combat team pre-deployment training. The Air Force Center of Excellence at Lackland AFB, Texas, provides joint subject-matter experts in electronic warfare; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; and military working dogs. The Navy Center of Excellence, located at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Indian Head, Md., provides expertise in counter-radio-controlled improvised explosive device electronic warfare, robotics, homemade explosives and explosive ordnance disposal.

JIEDDO identifies counter-IED training shortfalls in joint and service training and education curriculums and develop, integrate and deliver relevant counter-IED training to overcome these shortfalls.

History
JIEDDO traces its origins to the U.S. Army's Counter-IED Task Force established in 2003, under the leadership of U.S. Army Brigadier General Joseph Votel, to respond to the rapidly escalating IED threat U.S. forces faced in Iraq. In mid-2004, then-Deputy Secretary of Defense, Paul D. Wolfowitz transformed the Army-led organization into a joint IED task force reporting directly to him. Remaining under the leadership of Brigadier General Votel, the once-small group could now leverage experience and expertise of warfighters across the services, enhance its networks attack focus, increase procurement of device-defeat tools and build a robust set of IED-specific force training operations.

But as the IED threat in Iraq continued to escalate, a Deputy's Advisory Working Group convened in December 2005 and recommended the creation of a more robust, permanent organization. On February 14, 2006, then-Deputy Secretary of Defense, Gordon England signed Department of Defense Directive 2000.19E, establishing JIEDDO. U.S. Army General, Montgomery C. Meigs, served as the first director of JIEDDO.

JIEDDO Directors

 * General Montgomery C. Meigs, U.S. Army, 2006-2007
 * Lieutenant General Thomas F. Metz, U.S. Army, 2007-2009
 * Lieutenant General Michael L. Oates, U.S. Army, 2010-2011
 * Lieutenant General Michael D. Barbero, U.S. Army, 2011-2013
 * Lieutenant General John D. Johnson, U.S. Army, 2013-present