It wasn't too long ago that the Pentagon's bomb-fighting department focused the lion's share of its time and money on just a few things. Buying radio frequency jammers and other bomb-stopping gear was at the top of the list. So was training troops in how to spot the jury-rigged weapons.

But the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO) has been branching out in all sorts of unexpected ways. Now, the group is helping to bust jihadist front companies, spread anti-bomb propaganda – and, of course, develop new counter-bomb gadgetry.

JIEDDO recently released its annual report, outlining how it spent $3.5 billion in the last fiscal year. Tucked inside are all sorts of projects you'd never think to see, coming from a group that use to concentrate on buying jammers.

For instance, in 2008, JIEDDO participated in "a joint and multinational investigation into supply sources of electronic components for IEDs [that] culminated in the detention of several members of the Iraq-based Sea Sun Company. This effectively shut down an 'al Qaeda in Iraq' (AQI) front company and major source of supply for these components in Iraq. Following this roll-up of individuals associated with the Sea Sun Company, coalition forces saw a significant decrease in IEDs that used these electronic components."

The group also used "non-attributable information from television, radio and print media" in order to "eliminate support for the use of IEDs by local, regional, and international populations." JIEDDO says it worked with the Army's 1st Information Operations Command to develop "strategies to influence and neutralize the [bombing] networks." In the process, they worked with the Naval Postgraduate School "to leverage a counter-narratives program in support of operations in Afghanistan."

JIEDDO didn't leave the tech totally behind, however. It worked with Ahura Scientific to bring to Afghanistan and Iraq "the first viable capability to identify home made explosive and precursor components on the battlefield." That's important, Ahura explains, because today's IEDs rely on " industrial chemicals like nitric acid, ammonium nitrate, diesel fuel and sugar" instead of "traditional explosive materials like TNT." Which means the bombs often "avoid detection by traditional explosive detection technologies and trained canines. This has led military organizations and civilian agencies to research and quickly deploy new systems to counter the current IED threat."

The group also bankrolled development of Calilgo, a system for defeating infrared bomb triggers; 80 are of the Humvee-mounted gagdets are now in Iraq. And it worked on "Keyhole," a reconnaissance kit that "provides snipers with an increased capability to visually detect the enemy emplacing IEDs."

Not all the tech worked out so well, however. JIEDDO dropped its funding for "Rabbit," a remote-controlled Humvee kit and the "Improvised Ordnance Disruptor" that was "designed to neutralize IEDs" with electricity. "It was terminated due to poor performance during testing." So too was "Trailblazer II," a tool meant to do the same thing, but with radio waves.

An effort to get 20 more "combat tracker dog" teams into the field appears to be going more smoothly, however. But despite it and all the other JIEDDO projects, the number of improvised explosives in Afghanistan continues to escalate. The bomb-fighters in Afghanistan's Task Force Paladin task predict "bomb attacks will rise 50 percent this year to 5,700 — up from 3,800 last year."

[Photo: U.S. Army]

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