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BULLSEYE
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New DOD agency focuses on improvised threats
By Terri Moon Cronk
DOD News, Defense Media Activity
WASHINGTON — Because it takes a
network to defeat a network, the Defense
Department’s newest agency to stay at
the forefront of improvised threats made
its debut here July 13.
DOD’s Joint Improvised-Threat De-
feat Agency, or JIDA, is built from what
had been the Joint Improvised Explosive
Device Defeat Organization. It is a com-
bat support agency in the office of the
undersecretary of defense for acquisition,
technology and logistics, U.S. Army Maj.
Gen. Julie A. Bentz, the agency’s vice
director, told DOD News. JIDA has a
new, expanded mission to reflect the new
name, she said.
AF revolutionizes study material delivery for FY16
By Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs
WASHINGTON — Airmen studying
for career development and promotion
opportunities will begin to receive study
materials solely online by Oct. 1, 2017.
Electronic delivery of Career Develop-
ment Course volumes and Weighted Air-
man Promotion System study references
have been in place for several years with
a majority of the materials accessible on
Air Education and Training Command
websites.
“Air Education and Training Com-
mand’s e-WORLD websites provide Air-
men the opportunity to download study
materials for use globally with the click
of a mouse,” said Chief Master Sgt. Scott
Lumpkin, the Chief of Air Force Enlisted
Force Development. “The electronic format
also gives courseware developers the ability unchanged. Career field managers for
to add interactive content, making learning
material more interesting, with the goal of
increasing student comprehension.”
The Electronic WAPS Online Refer-
ence Library Database (e-WORLD) is
currently available to .mil users only at
http://cdc.aetc.af.mil. Once downloaded
to their military desktop, Airmen can e-
ISIL, from page 1 ______________
Tactical results
The undersecretary reported on
DOD’s efforts against the terror group.
To date, she said, there have been more
than 5,000 airstrikes in Iraq and Syria.
“This campaign has produced some
tactical results,” she said. “We have
limited ISIL’s freedom of movement, we
have constrained its ability to reinforce
its fighters and supply lines, and we’ve
degraded its command and control.”
But an air campaign is not going to
defeat ISIL, she added. “We need to have
News
JIDA has broader mission
“DOD broadened JIEDDO’s mission
set to include the improvised threat,”
Bentz explained. “Our job was always
to counter the improvised explosive
device, and this new mission set asks
us to look at the next IED.” The nation’s
adversary is an adaptive one, Bentz
said, adding that the next generation of
IED will be an improvised threat. “The
department has given us an increased
latitude to go after those innovative
networks, because it takes a network
to defeat a network,” she said.
JIDA works in a network
As a network, JIDA is a community
of action, and will work with such
organizations as the Defense Threat
“The transition to electronic study ma-
terials is a step forward we need to take
to ensure a fiscally-responsible approach.”
— Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force James A. Cody
mail the WAPS materials or burn them
to a CD in order to transfer them to a
personal electronic device. The complete
Enlisted Promotions References and
Requirements Catalog is also available
online along with the Professional De-
velopment Guide at http://pdg.af.mil.
A phased approach will be used to
ensure every Air Force Specialty Code
is prepared for electronic delivery of its
study material. The three-phased ap-
proach focuses on the target of complete
electronic delivery of unclassified CDCs
by Oct. 1, 2017. The process for electronic electronically as Air Force Handbook 1,
delivery of classified CDCs will remain
those Air Force Specialty Codes transi-
an accompanying ground campaign
as well,” she said. “We’ve been work-
ing particularly hard in Iraq to get that
campaign going.”
She spoke of an operation in northern
Syria that has put tremendous pressure
on ISIL’s headquarters in Raqqa. “Events
like this demonstrate that when we can
find credible forces on the ground and
pair them with coalition airpower and
work in a coordinated way, we can actu-
ally put the hurt to ISIL,” Wormuth said.
Effort depends on local forces
Local forces are key to this effort, the had to negotiate sites for the training, as-
undersecretary said, noting that as of
Reduction Agency, Defense Logistics
Agency, Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency, and across all com-
munities that are affected by an im-
provised threat, the general said. JIDA’s
network also includes coalition forces,
partner nations and other U.S. agen-
cies, she added.
The team approach brings the nec-
essary authorities and capabilities to
use each one’s strengths “to go after an
adversary who knows how to exploit
the seams between our capabilities,”
Bentz explained. “The closer we stitch
our abilities and leverage our authori-
ties, the tighter a network we become
to go after their network,” she added.
Patterns lead to new devices
tioning over the next several months will
execute specific plans as the printing and
shipping processes are phased out.
Since February 2012, the primary WAPS
study material — the PDG — has been
available online in a variety of electronic
formats through the Advanced Distributed
Learning Service and AETC Airman Ad-
vancement Division websites. The Airman
Advancement Division will no longer print
or distribute the PDG beyond fiscal year 15.
In fall 2015, the PDG will be published
Airman. The handbook will support the
enlisted promotion system with the publi-
cation of individual study guides from each
enlisted promotion testing grades (staff ser- devices will be available for those Airmen
June 30, about 8,800 Iraqi army soldiers
and Kurdish peshmerga fighters have
gone through training courses. “We also
trained about 2,000 counterterrorism
personnel — the more elite forces in Iraq,”
she said. “We now have coming through
the pipeline another 4,000 soldiers, 600 of
those counterterrorism personnel.”
Wormuth acknowledged that the train-
and-equip program for Syria is experienc-
ing challenges, and only 60 Syrians have
been trained to date. But the program
received funding only seven months ago,
she said, and since then, U.S. officials have think that speaks to the fact that there is
3July 17, 2015
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JIEDDO learned early that as it de-
feated a device, “the next device was
in front of us,” Bentz said. “But if we
went upstream, (we) started noticing
there were similar patterns and similar
signatures that helped us understand
there was a network of materials, peo-
ple, tactics, techniques and procedures
all coming together to build that IED.”
JIDA will continue that effort, she
added. “Those same networks that
build the IEDs are the same networks
that will continue building improvised
threats,” she said. The IED will con-
tinue to be a threat to U.S. and coalition
forces worldwide, Bentz acknowledged.
“It is a threat that’s not going away
anytime soon, unfortunately,” she said.
geant to chief master sergeant). These study
guides will be available along with other
tools to support all mobile devices this fall.
“The transition to electronic study
materials is a step forward we need to take
to ensure a fiscally-responsible approach,”
said Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force
James A. Cody. “The online libraries and
easy-to-use formats will give Airmen the
flexibility they need to study when and
where they want to, while still delivering
the education and information they need
to succeed in their Air Force careers.”
The transition to electronic delivery
of materials will save the Air Force ap-
proximately $5.9 million annually. Unit
commanders (through their unit WAPS
monitor) will have the option to authorize
printing of eCDCs and eWAPS on a case-
by-case basis to support study effectiveness
or mission requirements. Print options
from non-common access card enabled
interested in using personal resources to
obtain hard copy study materials.
For more information on the transi-
tion to eDelivery, Airmen can visit the
myPers website.
sign the personnel, put the vetting process
in place and work with partners.
“We started bringing our first recruits
to the training sites in May,” she said.
“A number of them did not meet our
very vigorous screening standards ... A
good number of the recruits dropped
out when they realized we were serious
about having this program fighting ISIL,
as opposed to fighting the Assad regime.”
Now, some 7,000 Syrian volunteers
have stepped forward, Wormuth said. “I
a lot of potential for this program,” she
added.