The Pentagon has quietly dismantled a legally mandated program designed to prevent and respond to civilian deaths in military operations, according to the department's internal watchdog. The move has raised alarm among civilian protection advocates as the US military continues strikes that have killed hundreds of civilians, including children.
An inspector general report concluded that the US military no longer has the personnel, funding, or infrastructure to comply with two federal statutes requiring it to operate a Civilian Protection Center of Excellence (CP CoE) and maintain a functioning civilian casualty mitigation policy. While the program has not been formally canceled, the report found that funding for its data platform ended, committee meetings halted, and most dedicated staff were reassigned or left.
The civilian harm mitigation and response program was established by then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in January 2022 following years of deadly bombing campaigns in Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. Independent monitors estimate US drone and airstrikes killed at least 22,000 civilians, and possibly as many as 48,000, in the two decades after 9/11.
The dismantling occurred under the Trump administration, with the inspector general identifying February as a critical turning point. That month, two senior Pentagon officials separately proposed to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that the program be cut or eliminated entirely. Without waiting for approval, the military began acting as though the reductions had already been authorized.
The timing proved consequential. On February 28, US forces struck an all-girls school in Minab, Iran, killing at least 175 people, the majority of them children. The strike occurred weeks after the Pentagon began dismantling the very safeguards designed to prevent such casualties.
Wes J. Bryant, an Air Force combat veteran who served as chief of civilian harm assessments for the CP CoE program, described the situation as a hollowing-out disguised as minimal compliance. He said only seven people now work on the program and are confined to a small office in Virginia with no operational access. Bryant was forced out of his position last spring.
The inspector general's report documented how rapidly the program deteriorated. One combatant command told investigators it had "largely divested" its civilian harm personnel and functions by March 2025. Another command said it did not want to invest resources in a program that might be "significantly changed."
The steering committee overseeing the entire CHMR program, chaired by acting Under Secretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby, held its last meeting in December. The committee failed to assign clear responsibility for implementing 133 required actions until that final month of a four-year plan. Its tracking system contained data that a senior official acknowledged was "incomplete and inaccurate."
When responding to the inspector general's draft report, Colby argued the Pentagon remained in compliance with federal law, claiming leadership continues to collaborate with the CP CoE and provide training materials. She pledged the department would deliver on training goals by the end of next year. But her letter contradicted the documented state of the program.
Madison Hunke, US program manager at the Center for Civilians in Conflict, said the pattern was ominous. "We are seeing devastating levels of civilian harm in Iran since February," she said. "If that's any indication of the Department's current approach to civilian harm after gutting 90% of its CHMR workforce, it's hard to imagine what future US operations might look like if these programs are further degraded."
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has not acknowledged the dismantling of the civilian protection infrastructure. When questioned about the school strike, he blamed Iran's government for placing military equipment in civilian areas and claimed no nation had taken more precautions than the US to avoid civilian deaths.
The Pentagon did not respond to requests for comment on the inspector general's findings. The office has given the department until June 12 to submit a plan addressing the violations of federal law.
Author James Rodriguez: "Gutting a program designed to prevent civilian deaths while presiding over strikes that kill children isn't policy reform, it's institutional negligence with a body count."
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