Joint Improvised-Threat Defeat Organization

The Joint Improvised-Threat Defeat Organization (JIDO, pronounced like "JI-DOH") is a combat support organization of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) organization under the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) that deals with improvised threats such as the improvised explosive device (IEDs). JIDO was born from the Joint IED Defeat Organization established in 2006, which focused on IEDs. JIDO's mission is to "enable Department of Defense actions to counter improvised threats with tactical responsiveness and anticipatory acquisition in support of combatant commanders' efforts to prepare for, and adapt to, battlefield surprise." This mission supports counter-terrorism, counter-insurgency and other related mission areas including Counter-IED.

The change from JIEDDO to JIDA occurred when Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work approved an organizational realignment of JIEDDO from a joint wartime activity to a combat support agency under the authority, direction and control of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics. Under the 2016 Defense Authorization Act, DoD was directed to moved JIDA to a military department or under an existing defense agency. DoD decided to reclassify JIDA as an organization under DTRA. On September 30, 2016, JIDA moved under DTRA and officially changed its name to JIDO to reflect the change from an Agency to an Organization.

Organization
Operating under the authority of the, JIDO's director serves as the principal adviser to the Department on IED matters. JIDO is organized along a coordinating staff structure with divisions aligned under a chief of staff. Additionally, there are deputy directors who help focus mission areas across the joint staff.

Under JIDO, there were three primary lines of operation: attacking the network, defeating the device, and training the force. Congress funds JIEDDO along these lines of operations.

Surveillance
JIDO's "Attack the Network" operation enabled offensive operations against networks of financiers, IED makers, trainers, and supporting infrastructure by providing intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, information operations, counter-bomber targeting, biometrics, and weapons technical intelligence.

JIDO's Counter-IED Operations/Intelligence Integration Center (COIC) was established in August 2006 to support the combat commanders with fused analytical products. The COIC was disestablished in 2015, however its functions were aligned under the Deputy Director of Operations. These functions coordinate more than 30 government and intelligence agencies. JIDO was one of the first U.S. government agencies to employ Palantir's data mining technology (as of 2013, it still used Palantir).

Technologies
The Defeat the Device line of operation enhanced 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. It's rapid acquisition ability makes the agency unique. JIDO can develop a solution and have it making a positive effect on the battlefield in as little as three to four months—75% faster than the regular acquisition process. It streamlines decisions and resource allocation by consolidating the Department of Defense's three major decision-making processes (acquisition, future requirements, and financial management) under one authority. Flexible funding authorities provided by the U.S. Congress also helps.

JIDO works with private industry and requests for proposals are regularly posted on the JIEDDO BIDS Portal. JIEDDO's counter-IED capability areas include countering threat-networks, detection, neutralizing IEDs, limiting homemade explosives, information integration and fusion to increase situational awareness, weapons technical intelligence, and counter-IED training.

Training
"Train the Force" is JIDO's third line of operation. The Joint Center of Excellence (JCOE), established in April 2006, is JIDO's lead organization for the train-the-force line of operation and is responsible for developing the training that enables this. Led by JIEDDO's deputy director of training and located at the Army's National Training Center, Fort Irwin, California, JCOE provided support to joint and service institutions and assists with developing counter-IED doctrine and tactics, techniques, and procedures. It has contributed significantly to the institutionalization of combat-proven counter-IED training.

JCOE's four subordinate centers of excellence are located at high-throughput training locations. The Army Center of Excellence, also located at the National Training Center, supports the U.S. Army's fielding of new equipment and the integration of counter-IED training into pre-deployment training. The Marine detachment, located at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, California, supports U.S. Marine battalion and regimental combat team pre-deployment training. The U.S. 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 U.S. Navy Center of Excellence, located at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Indian Head, Maryland, provides expertise in counter-radio-controlled IED electronic warfare, robotics, homemade explosives (HMEs), and explosive ordnance disposal.

History
JIDO 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 at the outset of the Iraq War in 2003. 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. 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 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 JIEDDO's first director. \

JIEDDO directors
 * General (Ret.) 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, 2013–2015

JIDA/JIDO director
 * Lieutenant General Michael H. Shields, U.S. Army, 2015–Present

Seal
On a white disc edged yellow, a dark gray shield bearing a gray chain encircling a terrestrial globe Proper, surmounted throughout the center by a yellow horizontal motto scroll with the Latin inscription, “APTO AUT MORIOR,” which translates to “I Must Adapt or I Will Die” in dark purple. The scroll is between four lightning bolts diagonally placed, radiating from the center of the globe—two above, green to the left and red to the right and two below, dark blue to the lower left and blue to the lower right. Resting on top of the shield, an American bald eagle Proper, wings displayed horizontally, grasping three crossed yellow arrows and bearing on its breast a shield blazoned as follows: Argent, a paly of six Gules, a chief Azure; all within a dark purple designation band double-edged yellow, inscribed above, “JOINT IMPROVISED-THREAT DEFEAT ORGANIZATION” and below, a disc, all yellow.

The dark gray shield denotes the unknown future of improvised threats and JIDO’s role to anticipate the unknown. The terrestrial globe symbolizes the global nature of improvised threats and JIDO’s area of responsibility supporting the worldwide deployment of U.S. warfighters in support of the Combatant Commanders. The chain encircling the globe suggests the interconnected communities of action necessary to contain enemy networks, defeat improvised threats and protect U.S. forces, while at the same time fighting interconnected threat networks. The war eagle, adapted from the Department of Defense seal, denotes JIDO’s relationship under the authority, direction and control of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency as a combat support agency. The dark purple suggests the joint nature of this mission. The lightning bolts indicate speed and accuracy of rapid capability delivery to U.S. forces—green for the Army, dark blue for the Navy, ultramarine blue for the Air Force and scarlet for the Marine Corps. They represent each branch of service to which materiel and non-materiel capabilities and support are provided. As the mission changed and the capabilities of JIDO were codified, symbolism for this seal was carried from the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization to the Joint Improvised-Threat Defeat Agency to the current organization.