8/9/2019 Agora: "Defusing the Threat"

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8/9/2019 Agora: "Defusing the Threat"

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ith increasing requency, criminals, insurgents and terror-

ists worldwide are using the improvised explosive device,

or IED, as their weapon o choice to kill, intimidate andinuence.

In Mexico, the recent and unexpected rise and intensifcation

o IED attacks underscores a chilling reality: The IED threat is

not limited to Iraq and Aghanistan and will persist beyond those

theaters as a weapon with global reach. This past all, anarchists

plagued Mexico City with multiple IED attacks targeted at

Mexicos economic center. The groups vowed to continue using

the IED as a tool to achieve their goals and as a method to wield

political inuence.

The cost in time and resources to employ an IED is minimal,

and those using them are oten unded by the narcotics trade,

have unlimited access to inormation through the Internet andhave readily available access to materials. Adversarial networks,

including drug cartels, Marxist groups and anarchist groups,

may shit to the IED as increased security and counternarcotics

successes decrease access to conventional weapons and increase

incentive to use improvised weapons. Mexico must prepare or

unconventional threats as it continues a sustained, eective fght in

an entrenched drug war.

Following the H1N1 outbreak in 2009, the Mexican government

coordinated a response that protected its citizens, deused any threat

to its continued global economic trade and prevented a more serious

global inuenza pandemic rom occurring. A coordinated, collabora-

tive and proactive strategic response to the global IED threat would attain

similar strategic benefts. As was seen in Russia, Spain and the United

Kingdom, unexpected high-profle attacks resulted in very serious political,

economic and security ramifcations.

CooRDinAtion AnD PREvEntion

Aware o the strategic and global nature o the threat, the Joint IED Deeat

Organization, or JIEDDO, works closely with those responsible or homeland deense

and regional security to prevent improvised explosive devices rom gaining a signifcant

oothold in North America. JIEDDOs extensive coordination and collaboration between

military, government and law enorcement personnel extends domestically and internation-

ally. As the U.S. Department o Deenses counter-IED lead, the organization works closely

with all U.S. combatant commands including Northern Command and Southern Command

DEFUsingW

the threaoRGANIZATIoN SeekS To THWART USe oF IMpRoVISeD

expLoSIVe DeVICeS

MiCHAEL CoDERRE/jieDDo PUBlic affairS

We have worked

hard as an institution

and as a coalition

o nations to ensure

that we can identiy

those threats beore

they reach our shores.

And i they reach our

shores, [we can]

identiy and prevent

them beore they can

take action.

Ge. vcr E. Reuar Jr.,Cmmandr

U.S. Nrthrn Cmmand

iSto

ck

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to integrate counter-IED planning into the broader

scope o bilateral and multilateral planning.

We have worked hard as an institution and as a

coalition o nations to ensure that we can identiy

those threats beore they reach our shores. And i they

reach our shores, [we can] identiy and prevent them

beore they can take action, Gen. Victor E. Renuart

Jr., commander o U.S. Northern Command, said when

he spoke to homeland security and deense experts in

November at the National Homeland Deense Foundation

Symposium VII in Colorado.

JIEDDO supports Northern Command and its identi-

fcation o threats through the JIEDDO Counter-IED

Operations Integration Center, which analyzes inorma-

tion gathered throughout the global intelligence com-

munity and integrates it.

JIEDDO also has explosive ordnance disposal

experts who can greatly enhance the training o

domestic and international frst-responder agencies

tasked with disarming and destroying IEDs. I legally

authorized and ormally requested through the U.S.Department o Deense, the organization also retains

signifcant intelligence, surveillance and reconnais-

sance assets that can assist Northern Command and

Southern Command to help deeat regional IED

campaigns.

JIEDDOs support o the U.S. law enorcement and

homeland security community extends to its Mexican

counterparts, within bilateral cooperation and collabo-

ration agreements. By using JIEDDOs expertise, these

communities are better prepared to prevent, respond

to, investigate and prosecute IED-related crimes. The

organizations success in attacking enemy networks,detecting and deeating devices, and training provides

the community with the latest lessons learned and best

practices or overcoming IEDs.

JIEDDO personnel engaged outside o the U.S.

rapidly report on how various adversaries are employ-

ing the improvised explosive device, and that inorma-

tion is disseminated throughout the organizations

network o partners. This inormation assists U.S. law

enorcement entities in preparing policies, training

and response models to counter possible IED threats

throughout North America.

The Pentagons current hands-on experience in

detecting, countering and responding to IEDs is an

invaluable resource that regional law enorcement

agencies can and should exploit. To conront and

counter the threat, JIEDDO is reaching out to other

government agencies to increase coordination o IED

prevention eorts across lines o operation and be-

tween disparate branches o the government. A broad

network o partners rom many other agencies and

organizations allows JIEDDO to cut across traditional

inormation barriers and provide relevant, timely

and credible inormation at the tactical edge o IED

prevention. n

E x p l o s i v E

t E r m i n o l o g yon JIeDDos mst imrtant mis-

sins is t crat a cmmn languag

that lic and Sldirs can us t idntiy

imrvisd lsiv dvics. Th Wans

Tchnical Intllignc IeD Licn was

dvld with cls cratin and

crdinatin amng th U.S. military, th

intllignc cmmunity and law nrc-

mnt agncis.

Th licn nsurs that th Unitd

Stats and all NATo natins as wll as

thr artnr natins ar taling th

sam languag whn it cms t IeDs,

said Lt. Cl. Mar Wicham, a Unitd

kingdm fcr wh srvs as JIeDDos

Wans Tchnical Intllignc, r WTI,

rt. Clarly utlining th cmmntrms r IeDs and thr imrvisd

wans nabls bttr inrmatin u-

sin, rm th tactical t stratgic lvl.

Cmrhnsiv in sc, th licn

dfns trms ranging rm basic IeD

dsign and cmnnts t tactical ut-

cms IeD mlymnt.

At ach has, inrmatin is gath-

rd t build a cmmn ictur nmy

caabilitis, inrm cmmandrs nw

dvlmnts, and surt matrial

dvlrs in building ncssary cun-trmasurs, Wicham said. Th licn

ncurags accurat rrting and analy-

sis rm th mmnt th IeD is und.

Waving tgthr rnsic and tchni-

cal analysis, th WTI rcss idntifs

uniqu charactristics imrvisd

lsiv dvics and thir cmnnts

n th battlfld t rvid intllignc

t nging ratins acrss th glb.

Un initial aminatin, th dvics ar

snt t battlfld labs r in-dth tchni-

cal analysis. Th inrmatin cllctd

is usd t rvid vidntiary surt

t th rscutin bmb mars.

Th dvics ar snt t gvrnmnt and

military rnsics labs acrss th glb r

mr dtaild, natinal-lvl analysis. Th

rnsic and tchnical data is als usd in

cuntr-IeD training surt t rvid th

mst ralistic scnaris ssibl.

Thugh thr ar n licit lans at

this tim, a Sanish-languag vrsin

th licn is anticiatd as th dcu-

mnt vlvs.

agora