WASHINGTON, March 27 (UPI) -- The Iraq insurgency has spawned a massive Pentagon effort to counter roadside bombs through a secretive office.
The secretive Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Office is led by a former four-star general and is funded at more than $2.4 billion in the war supplemental, and the Pentagon has asked for another $4 billion in the 2008 budget. Because of the urgency and sensitivity of its work -- roadside bombs in Iraq claim nearly 70 percent of all U.S. casualties -- details on how the funding is spent, what contractors are performing the work and whether the investments are paying dividends are hard to come by.
More than two years after the office was created in 2005 the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee is expressing concern about the office's broad and vague mandate, and the veil of secrecy that conceals its operations even from Congress. The language suggests Congress may begin to exert more control over the office in coming months.
"This committee is ...concerned over the exponential growth of JIEDDO. The committee has limited visibility into current staffing and future staffing requirements and is concerned that certain contractor support is not being accounted for properly by JIEDDO," the report states.
The committee has requested a detailed breakdown of staff and their functions.
It also notes that while a strategic plan for JIEDDO has apparently been written it has not yet been reviewed outside the Pentagon's Joint Staff.
The committee asks for a comprehensive mission statement, definitions for potential counter solutions that could be funded, long- and short-term goals and measures for success for the organization.
