Detecting IEDs Has Not Changed Much Over The Years

Canadian soldiers from the NATO-led coalition run for cover after an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) explosion during a mission in the Taliban stronghold of Zhari district in Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan, March 20, 2009. (Reuters)

As Improvised Explosive Devices Evolve, Soldiers Work to Find New Methods to Detect Them -- Wall Street Journal

FORWARD OPERATING BASE DWYER, Afghanistan—U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, visiting troops in southern Afghanistan, saw how the art of detecting buried explosive devices has changed little, in some ways, since his Army days despite the billions of dollars spent by the Pentagon to improve bomb detection.

During a visit to Forward Operating Base Dwyer in Helmand province, Mr. Panetta, 73 years old, witnessed a group of Afghan soldiers training with long, crudely constructed bamboo poles with hooks at one end, scraping through a dirt field to find and destroy improvised explosive devices, or IEDs.

The sight reminded Mr. Panetta of when he served as an Army intelligence officer from 1964 to 1966. "When I was in the Army, you used to do that by bayonet," he said.

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My Comment: After spending billions on new technologies to find ieds, we get stuck with a bamboo stick and a hook. Read it all.