Pentagon reveals plan for civilian casualties policy: "Collateral damage" reduction

Pentagon reveals plan for civilian casualties policy: "Collateral damage" reduction

The directive contains 11 major objectives. They are aimed at helping commanders better understand the presence of noncombatants before any operations begin, and they require operators to consider potential consequences for civilians in any combat action, thus reducing "collateral damage".

“We will ensure that we are well prepared to prevent, mitigate and respond to civilian harm in current and future conflicts,” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin wrote in a memo to top military commanders and civilian leaders, adding: “Importantly, this plan is scalable and relevant to both counterterrorism operations and large-scale conflicts against peer adversaries.”

In his memo, Mr. Austin called the changes “both ambitious and necessary” and said the effort would need continuous support from future administrations to succeed. Officials have said the idea is to embed the new practices and sensibility in a way that would make them difficult to abandon.

Much of the document is dense with new bureaucratic procedures aimed at ensuring that greater attention to potential impact on civilians — and civilian infrastructure like power plants and water-purification systems — during mission planning is incorporated as basic doctrine.

Other highlights from the plan include standardizing reporting on how the Pentagon collects, shares and analyzes data related to civilian casualties, with a mechanism for the public to submit allegations and new procedures for investigating such claims.

The plan also expands how the U.S. military can respond to victims, including condolence payments to survivors and family members of those harmed, as well as paying for medical care and the repair of damaged infrastructure.

Several of the directives implement new levels of bureaucracy, and around 150 new hires will be necessary, including approximately 30 to run a dedicated “Civilian Protection Center of Excellence.”

Even those who praised the policy as a step in the right direction observed that it doesn’t explain how the military would improve on its ability to estimate civilian casualties, how it would incorporate information from outside the Pentagon, and what levels of command would be held responsible for deaths.

The US is often criticized for lumping all military-age males it kills into the “combatant” category, regardless of their identity.

The Pentagon has admitted its drone strikes are often conducted based on faulty intelligence, and a leaked report published in 2020 revealed that during one five-month period, nearly 90% of drone-strike victims were not the intended targets.