Defense Department Approves JIEDDO Reorganization
By Nick Simeone
DoD News, Defense Media Activity
WASHINGTON, March 13, 2015 – The Defense Department has approved a realignment of the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization, or JIEDDO, with the goal of improving oversight and accountability, a Pentagon spokesman announced today.
Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work approved an organizational realignment of JIEDDO, Army Col. Steve Warren told reporters. The change will see it transition from a field agency to a combat support agency under the authority, direction and control of the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, he said.
Transition Preserves Capabilities
While JIEDDO will no longer maintain its current funding levels, Warren said, the "decision preserves the central capabilities [and] strengthens oversight and accountability." He called the realignment the culmination of a process that began last year when the department determined that it was time for the organization to transition.
"The assessment was that as a field agency it was no longer required," Warren said. "The war was over and essentially we needed to find a home for JIEDDO." As well as a new name, he added, which is still to be determined.
JIEDDO was first stood up as an Army task force in 2003 to rapidly counter the threat posed by the growing number of improvised explosive devices in Iraq, which had become the largest cause of casualties among U.S. troops there.
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