IED office spends only 25 percent of appropriations

Despite all the efforts some of our readers have put into the anti-IED effort, it is clear that there remains much to be done — and not just because of recent technological advances on the part of the Iraqi insurgents. According to the General Accounting Office, many of the problems are here at home, with the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO) spending only 25 percent of money of the approximately $4 billion appropriated for its efforts (though this is not stopping the agency for asking for 30 percent more for 2008). Much of the money spent goes to employ 300 uniformed military personnel, civilians, and contractors at a secure building in Crystal City, Virginia. As for the rest, “They just haven’t spent it,” said Representative Jim Moran (D-Virginia). “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.”

One of the problems, of course, is that the agency operates in secrecy, making self-promotion, however valid, extremely difficult. Speaking to the Christian Science Monitor, agency chief Montgomery Meigs would only say that while the total number of IED attacks in Iraq has increased since 2005, the number that resulted in American casualties had remained stable, suggesting that efforts to locate and jam IEDs had paid some small dividends. Neverthless, CSM notes that the agency may be shifting priorities away from technological solutions and towards offensive operations against the insurgent networks creating the IEDs. “In 2006, the agency spent 13 percent of its budget on offensive operations, while this year’s budget allocates 31 percent to those activities … The agency also spent $20 million on medical research in mitigating casualties from IED blasts.”