As expressed in the original 2008 report, Research Challenges in Combating Terrorist Use of Explosives in the United States, improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are generally easy to develop, difficult to combat, and cause disproportionate physical and psychological harm to the citizenry. Research, development, test, and evaluation options to assist domestic counter-IED efforts are plentiful, easily overwhelming the ability of government and industry to fund. This updated report outlines 10 challenge areas where concentrated research can be most beneficial when combating IED use in the homeland and is a summation of interagency efforts to analyze operational capabilities and gaps, as well as their associated research needs
