World News
Defense Secretary Hegseth Gutted Civilian Protection Program Despite Objections from Top Commanders
Military leaders warned that reducing the Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response program would heighten combat risks, but Defense Department leadership drastically scaled it back before recent high-casualty strikes.
The short version
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth polled top military leaders in early 2025 on reducing the Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response (CHMR) program, but commanders opposed the reductions.
- Despite military warnings that cuts would increase target misidentification, Hegseth reduced the program's staff from nearly 200 to about two dozen and stripped its funding.
- Following international outcry over civilian casualties in Yemen and a school strike in Iran that killed over 100 children, the Defense Department is considering a proposal to partially reboot the initiative.
Key facts
- In early 2025, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth polled senior military commanders on cutting the Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response program, but every commander rejected eliminating or severely scaling back the effort.[ProPublica]
- U.S. Central Command warned Hegseth's office in a memo that cutting civilian protection personnel would decrease combat efficiency by increasing target misidentification risks and lowering battlespace awareness.[ProPublica]
- Hegseth reduced the civilian harm mitigation personnel from under 200 people to approximately two dozen and stripped nearly all of its funding.[ProPublica]
- A spring 2025 air campaign in Yemen resulted in 153 civilian deaths and 243 injuries, while an airstrike on a primary school in Minab, Iran, killed over 100 children.[ProPublica]
- Under Secretary of Policy Elbridge Colby sent a memo in April proposing to reboot the program with 70 full-time staff following congressional and internal military pressure.[ProPublica]
What remains uncertain
- It remains unconfirmed whether the Defense Department will officially approve and enact the proposed partial restoration of the civilian harm mitigation staff to 70 full-time employees.[ProPublica]
- While preliminary reports attributed the strike on the Iranian primary school to outdated intelligence, official military investigations into the cause of the civilian deaths remain unreleased publicly.[ProPublica]