New Defense bill threatens to break up and defund Anti-IED office. - Polidicks

[url]http://thehill.com/policy/defense/259620-defense-bill-would-close-anti-ied-office[/url] [QUOTE]A defense bill expected to be approved by the Senate Tuesday would eliminate the Pentagon office in charge of stopping roadside bombs that have been the No. 1 killer of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. A little-noticed provision in the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act would take away the Joint Improvised-Threat Defeat Agency’s (JIDA) independent status and subsume the office into an existing Pentagon agency — which critics say would essentially kill its work in coping with improvised explosive devices (IEDs). If a plan to transition the JIDA under an existing agency is not submitted nine months after the bill is passed, funds will be withheld, except for those directly supporting war activities. The JIDA was set up in 2006 to coordinate the Pentagon’s fight against IEDs, from research and development to the acquisition of equipment to fielding that equipment in the battlefield. While IEDs are no longer considered the threat they once were during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, they are being employed daily against U.S.-backed forces fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). ...Funding has declined for JIDA. It once had $3.9 billion in annual funding, but the new bill would provide $432 million. The administration requested $492 million.[/QUOTE] I can only assume its due to the fact that it doesn't make money.

It's basically impossible to know how useful this agency is by the name alone. Have they actually come up with a lot of ways to prevent death to IED? What's their actual usefulness been?

[QUOTE=sgman91;49121943]It's basically impossible to know how useful this agency is by the name alone. Have they actually come up with a lot of ways to prevent death to IED? What's their actual usefulness been?[/QUOTE] Yes, they come up with solutions faster then any other agency. They're basically like intelligence agency but they deal strictly with bombs.

I hope this bill fails.