Billions wasted on IED defense

From Capitol Hill Blue:

Pressure is building on the government outfit created to come up with anti-roadside bomb strategies and tactics to show something concrete for the $6 billion that has been poured into it since 2004.

Lawmakers have put out the word that the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization is in jeopardy of forfeiting funds if it doesn't demonstrate some progress in crafting defenses against the bombs that have killed and maimed thousands of GIs in Iraq and, lately, Afghanistan.

The 2007 wartime supplemental appropriations bill designates another $2.4 billion for the organization, but it also came with strongly worded language demanding the group better account for the billions it already has received and become more responsive to congressional inquiries.