The Perfect Soldier: Special Operations, Commandos, and the Future of Us Warfare by James F. Dunnigan
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Dirty Little Secrets
Bureaucrats Block Needed Upgrades for Iraq Jammers
by James Dunnigan
June 6, 2005
Discussion Board on this DLS topic
Military bureaucrats are slowing down upgrades for
electronic jammers that save American soldiers lives every day. Last Summer, the
U.S. Army began using new jammers to interfere with the radio signals that
control many roadside bombs in Iraq. The terrorists use a number of wireless
devices (cell phones, garage door openers, radio control toys) to set off the
bombs, and there are a wide variety of frequencies to be jammed. Last fall, the
manufacturer (TMC Design) of the jammer (called “Warlock”) was told that the
terrorists had come up with some devices using frequencies that were not being
jammed. The Warlock was quickly updated. Technically, it’s not difficult to
modify the Warlock to jam more frequencies. In February, American troops noted
that the terrorists had again figured out which frequencies the Warlocks could,
and could not, jam, and were again using frequencies the Warlock could not
handle. Again, the army asked the manufacturer to add more frequencies for the
Warlock to jam. This time, the upgrade was delayed several months as army
procurement bureaucrats fussed with additional regulations and procedures. The
bureaucrats were more concerned with keeping their paperwork in order than in
saving the lives of American troops. Changing the Warlocks is not rocket
science, and the manufacturer can work out how to do it in days, or weeks at
most. But it takes the army bureaucracy months to sign off on it. This is common
enough in peace time, but you’d think a sense of urgency would prevail in
wartime. Warlock was originally developed outside the army procurement
bureaucracy, using the Rapid Fielding
Initiative program. This is a procedure designed to get needed gear to the
troops as rapidly as possible, bypassing the procurement bureaucracy. But once
the procurement bureaucracy gets involved, other priorities take over. In this
case, the bureaucrats will insist that the delays did not endanger many
Americans, as not that many terrorists knew about the new terrorists, and that
the exacting, and time consuming procurement procedures are mandated by Congress
and so it's not our fault. That's the appeal of bureaucracy, no one is at fault.
But it doesn't help the troops. This sort of thing has happened before, during
wartime, and will happen again. Don't think it will ever go away.
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