“I would observe that we keep using the term conventional war and unconventional war: [An IED] is as conventional as anything is,” Macy said Oct. 24 at the National Defense Industrial Association’s annual expeditionary warfare conference.

IEDs continue to account for the vast majority of U.S. and coalition personnel killed and wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq. Citing medical evidence, Macy said IEDs have been responsible for 52 percent of the casualties in the two war zones. He said the ratio of those wounded in action to those killed is nine-to-one, much higher than ratios in previous conflicts in Vietnam and Korea.

“The bottom line is that IEDs are here,” Macy said. “They are a major part of the enemy’s capability. Dealing with IEDs is something that we’re going to face across the spectrum of conflict from here on out.”

It is “perhaps unfortunate” that the U.S. military caught on so late to improvised explosives as an enemy tactic, the admiral stated.

“This has been going on for 35 years in a place called Northern Ireland,” Macy said.

To help better protect troops from IEDs, Macy said the military must do three things: defeat the network, defeat the device and train personnel on how to address IEDs.

“Each individual on the battlefield now has to have counter IED skills just like they have to have personal first aid skills, they have to know how to use their rifle and pistol,” he said. “It’s not something to be left to [the explosive ordnance directorate] or engineers -- you have to target it at everybody.”

Macy told contractors that their help is needed, but they must appreciate the sensitivity of counter-IED technology and the enemy’s ability to access information about it.

“It is vital that as you all are working through possibilities that you are very conscious of the sensitivity of what you may be doing,” he said.

“We can give specific examples of where very well intentioned industry news releases doomed a device to lack of utility because the enemy knew about it within a week of the news release,” Macy added.

Open information is readily available to the media and the enemy is using it, he said.

“The enemy can read Jane’s and they can also read Clausewitz and evidently they have,” he noted.

Recently, the Pentagon outlined plans and requirements for new IED jammers known as Counter Radio-controlled Electronic Warfare (CREW) spiral systems. Macy said he would like to reach a point where these systems are used sparingly.

“We would like to be in a position where the need for CREW is minimal because the enemy has very few chances to actually field devices against us,” he said.

“CREW should be thought of as body armor -- by the time you need it, the fight is literally too close,” Macy added.