Exclusive Interview with Army Lt. Gen. Michael Oates, Director, JIEDDO

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) February 26, 2010 -- Rockville, MD – KMI Media Group, the leading independent publisher of military and defense industry-focused magazines, today announced the publication of an exclusive interview with Army Lieutenant General Michael Oates, director, Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization.

The improvised explosive device (IED) is the most lethal asymmetric weapon encountered by U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. While Oates assigns a “passing” grade to the U.S. DoD in its campaign to defeat IEDs, he discusses challenges and opportunities in the fight ahead.

From a policy perspective, Oates asserted, “The DoD, if it gets a whole of government approach, can render the IED less attractive and less effective as a strategic weapon.” He noted that a whole of government strategy transcends the armed forces – and enlists the departments of State, Treasury and other offices. “So, really, everyone in government has a part in this fight,” Oates added.

Technology solutions remain a foundation of the defeat IED strategy. Lt. Gen. Oates remarked, “At the top of my interest level is the detection of homemade explosives. My area of priority is Afghanistan.”

The far-ranging interview with Lt. Gen. Oates has been published in the JIEDDO Who’s Who supplement in Military Training Technology (MT2) issue 15.1 (February 2010).

MT2’s online version, with the JIEDDO Who’s Who supplement and the entire Q&A, may be viewed at http://www.mt2-kmi.com .

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More information can be found online at http://www.mt2-kmi.com

IEDs     JIEDDO     LTG Michael Oates