Congress eyes US effort to defeat roadside bombs

A secretive agency is slated to get a 30 percent boost in funding, but some question its effectiveness.

By Gordon Lubold | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

from the March 23, 2007 edition

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WASHINGTON - In the troubling days of 2005, as insurgent attacks mounted in Iraq, the Bush administration created a special task force to defeat the No 1 threat to US troops: homemade roadside bombs.

But while the Pentagon has raised the organization's profile by putting a retired Army four-star general in charge and thrown billions of dollars at it, it is not clear how much it has helped, since the improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, continue to cause the majority of troop fatalities.

The group operates secretly to avoid tipping its hand to US enemies. But last year, Senate appropriators directed the Government Accountability Office, the watchdog of Congress, to investigate the agency. Now, they may get some answers.

This week, the GAO was scheduled to brief committee members on its classified report behind closed doors, says a GAO official. There is some concern in the House of Representatives, too. Rep. James Moran (D) of Virginia, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, said the organization has spent only about 25 percent of the money it's been given.

"They just haven't spent it," said Representative Moran. "I don't want to require [them] to spend it on things that are not necessary. But on the other hand, we need to figure out how to stop these deaths of these kids riding in convoys."

Moran said he is "not entirely" satisfied that the organization is adequately accountable or transparent, even though he believes Montgomery Meigs, the retired Army four-star general who heads the agency, is "trying to do the right thing."

Others say the agency, called the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO), has what been given an impossible task. IEDs are simple bombs, cobbled together using technology from remote-control toys, garage-door openers, and cellphones.

The organization has remained a mystery because its work is so sensitive, and many officials inside the Defense Department believe sharing almost any information about what JIEDDO does could tip off insurgents about US tactics and put American troops at fatal risk. The agency, meant to serve as a kind of clearinghouse of information in an effort to prevent redundant efforts within the Defense Department, employs nearly 300 uniformed military personnel, civilians, and contractors in its offices in a secure building in Crystal City, Va., about a mile from the Pentagon, and in teams working in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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