WASHINGTON, Nov. 24 (UPI) -- Congressional investigators have concluded that improvised explosive devices remain a top threat to U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Despite a significant downturn in U.S. casualties, IEDs remain the "weapon of choice" of a stubborn insurgency, a report from a U.S. House of Representatives Armed Services Committee subcommittee stated.
CNN said Monday that the study completed this month looked at the effectiveness of The Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization, a Pentagon project to foil IEDs that has been allocated about $14 billion since 2004.
"Although JIEDDO has had some success in its mission to defeat IEDs as weapons of strategic influence, the IED remains the enemy's weapon of choice," the report said.
The study recommended JIEDDO take more of a leadership role in developing countermeasures to IEDs and improve "metrics and measurements" to determine how effective the program has been.
