Military TV, Television - Military Times

New documentary explores IED threat, countermeasures

When Brian Doyne talks about efforts to defeat the roadside bombs that continue to kill troops in Iraq and Afghanistan at an alarming rate, you can’t help but pay attention.

That he spent five years as an Army explosives ordnance disposal specialist helps. Listen to him talk for just a few minutes and it becomes clear that he knows his stuff.

But it’s the scars he bears on his face and body that speak volumes. The former sergeant survived back-to-back improvised explosive device detonations while serving in Iraq in 2005 with the 797th Ordnance Company, but lost his left eye and left arm.

Doyne is one of two IED experts featured in a new documentary on the Discovery Times Channel, “Mission Ops: Assignment IEDs.”

The hour-long feature is hosted by journalist and terrorism expert Peter Bergen. It explores the history, development and deployment of IEDs; demonstrates the growing destructive power of these weapons; and offers a close-up look at some of the high-tech systems U.S. forces are using to defeat these low-tech weapons.

For the viewer who hasn’t seen the effects of these roadside explosives, Bergen frames the documentary in the context of a hypothetical attack on “twin targets” in New York City — Madison Square Garden and Penn Station.

Where Doyne describes the different IEDs used in Iraq, Afghanistan and beyond, Department of Homeland Security bomb prevention specialist Kelly Gibbs offers a window into the little discussed tools the U.S. is using to defeat them.

The classified nature of these tools prevent in-depth discussion and the documentary takes pains to offer insight without giving away any intel.

Viewers are introduced to Buckeye, an aerial surveillance countermeasure used on unmanned aerial vehicles; the system provides high quality imagery for intel analysts to make terrain comparisons and discover where IEDs may be buried.

Also highlighted is an automated video identification system that “Mission Ops” describes as “intelligent video.” Through remote cameras, the system can track individuals in a crowded urban area. If a camera identifies any suspicious behavior — say, someone setting down a backpack in a subway entrance — the system alerts the operator to the behavior.

But perhaps most intriguing is Zeus, a Humvee-mounted laser disruption device that allows EOD technicians to render an IED safe by means of a low-level detonation from up to 300 yards away. Hundreds of the systems are already in use in Iraq and Afghanistan.

For the military viewer already well familiar with the IED threat, whether through mission briefings or firsthand experience, this documentary covers familiar territory. But for the casual viewer hoping to learn more about the weapon that is the single biggest killer of U.S. troops in Iraq, it’s a must-see.

“Mission Ops: Assignment IEDs” is on the Discovery Times Channel.