The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics has made Congress aware of the Department of Defense’s plan to realign the Joint Improvised-Threat Defeat Agency (JIDA) under the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA).
The 2016 National Defense Authorization Act mandated that JIDA be unable to act as a separate agency, meaning that the agency would need to transitioned to a military department or other defense agency.
“Our core competencies have proven to be a mission enhancing capability that Congress and the Department want to retain, incorporate, and leverage in future endeavors to support the warfighter at the speed and scope of the modern battlefield,” Lt. Gen. Michael H. Shields, JIDA’s director, said. “The NDAA language does not change our scope, focus, customers, or mission. JIDA’s support to the combatant commands and deployed U.S. joint forces will continue unchanged.”
JIDA is what remains of the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO), a group specifically suited to dealing with the threat of improvised explosive devices.
“Realigning JIDA under DTRA will enhance upstream threat prevention and defeat capabilities,” Ken Myers, DTRA’s director, said. “Other areas of collaboration will include sharing science and technology information, collaborating on security cooperation and building partner nation capacities, leveraging acquisition and information technology strengths, sharing expertise particularly in anticipating and identifying emerging threats, and improving each other’s situational awareness regarding indications and warning on global threats.