Three years ago, the Defense Department led an ambitious international effort to better protect civilians during combat, a movement built on the bloody lessons of Afghanistan and Iraq.
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Department → lead → Afghanistan
The Pentagon created a network with European partners, driving the creation of shared standards.
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Pentagon → create → standards
Civilian harm experts described the moment as a “unique opportunity” for American leadership by example.
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experts → describe → example
Today, those efforts continue — without the United States, after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth dismantled the civilian protection mission.
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Hegseth → continue → mission
And Thursday, no U.S. delegation will be in the room when the international forum the U.S. cofounded meets at NATO headquarters in Belgium.
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U.S. → cofounde → Belgium
The country’s absence from the International Contact Group on Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response summit reinforces the abandonment of a mission the Pentagon had encouraged partners to embrace, said current and former officials.
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officials → reinforce → partners
Most spoke to ProPublica on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation from President Donald Trump’s administration.
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Most → speak → administration
They called the step back “humiliating” and “dangerous,” pointing to reports of rising civilian casualties in Iran following strikes on schools and homes.
“There will be a day when people who care about mitigating civilian harm can come back and say, ‘OK, are we ready to solve this problem?’” said Jenny McAvoy, a former Defense Department official who helped shape the U.S. civilian protection program.
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who → call → program
The Pentagon declined to comment about the lack of U.S. participation in the Brussels talks.
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Pentagon → decline → talks
A spokesperson previously told ProPublica that the Defense Department factors civilian protections into all phases of operational planning and “remains committed to fulfilling its civilian harm mitigation and response responsibilities.”
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Department → tell → responsibilities
The Pentagon adopted the civilian harm mitigation and response mission in 2022 after years of bloodshed in the post-9/11 “forever wars.”
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Pentagon → adopt → wars
Known as CHMR and pronounced “chimmer,” the framework called for a specialized center to collect strike data and for advisers embedded with regional commands to help mitigate the risk to noncombatants.
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advisers → know → noncombatants
Not long after, the U.S. teamed up with the Netherlands to coordinate efforts internationally.
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U.S. → team → efforts
The two countries had been frequent partners in recent military campaigns, including the fight against the Islamic State group, and were both coming to terms with high-profile civilian casualty incidents.
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countries → include → incidents
For the United States, years of harm in Iraq and Afghanistan had drawn international outrage and pledges from commanders to better collect data and learn from deadly mistakes.
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years → draw → mistakes
The Dutch were still addressing the fallout from a 2015 operation in Iraq in which air strikes targeting a car-bomb factory ignited a nearby munitions depot, setting off an enormous explosion that killed at least 70 civilians and wounded hundreds.
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that → address → hundreds
Dutch responsibility wasn’t revealed until 2019, causing a national scandal and accusations of a cover-up.
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responsibility → reveal → up
In 2023, the U.S. and the Netherlands formed the loose coalition on CHMR.
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U.S. → form → CHMR
Participants described a small, informal group that has met half a dozen times since 2023 to share best practices and hear briefings on civilian casualty trends.
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that → describe → trends
Advocacy groups said it had taken years to get the U.S. military to think of civilian casualties as more than “collateral damage,” showing commanders how the deaths of innocents were anathema to their morals and strategically harmful to their missions.
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deaths → say → missions
The eventual adoption of CHMR guidelines by American defense officials helped their counterparts abroad make the case for programs in their own countries.
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counterparts → help → countries
“By the U.S. putting itself out there and saying, ‘We learned, we can do better,’ it gives permission and makes it OK for other governments to similarly acknowledge, ‘Yeah, we can do better too,’” said McAvoy.
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McAvoy → put → permission
As participants gather this week in Brussels to discuss how to continue strengthening CHMR, however, the early momentum from the U.S. side has evaporated.
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momentum → gather → side
Hegseth, who derides rules of engagement as “woke,” gutted the CHMR program over the objections of the nation’s top commanders, ProPublica reported last month.
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ProPublica → deride → commanders
Staff plunged from nearly 200 to about two dozen.
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Staff → plunge → two
Days before the latest summit in Brussels, the United States wasn’t listed as a participant and there was no sign anyone from the Defense Department would attend.
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anyone → list → Department
Current and former officials predicted either a no-show or, at most, a single delegate from one of the commands showing up.
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officials → predict → commands
“The U.S. stopped participating in this group last year and people assumed that meant the group would die,” said McAvoy.
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McAvoy → stop → group
“But the group continued to exist and to meet — without the U.S. — under the leadership of the U.K. and the Netherlands.”
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group → continue → U.K.
The two-day summit opens with a broad discussion of CHMR, such as how it applies in coalitions or in operations at sea, that includes advocacy groups and academics, a draft agenda reviewed by ProPublica shows.
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ProPublica → open → groups
The meeting wraps with a “looking ahead” panel.
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meeting → wrap → panel
Past attendees included Austria, Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany and Norway.
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attendees → include → Austria
The nations represent a wide variation in approaches and needs when it comes to CHMR, participants said.
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participants → represent → CHMR
The U.K., for example, doesn’t have a formal framework for civilian harm mitigation and response, and advocates have spent years pushing the British Ministry of Defense to adopt policies similar to those of the United States.
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advocates → have → States
Though humanitarian groups generally regarded the American CHMR enterprise as nascent and imperfect, the overall framework provided a worthy standard, said Mae Thompson of the Ceasefire Centre for Civilian Rights, a London-based advocacy group.
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Thompson → regard → Rights
Advocates have framed the Pentagon’s rollback as an opportunity for the U.K. to step into a leadership role, Thompson said, and they’ve been encouraged by a recent internal report by the defense ministry that calls for formalization of a program in Britain, including systems to track civilian harm, investigate, and make amends and offer post-harm response.
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that → frame → response
NATO boasts a civilian protection policy that predates the American model, but the organization is now incorporating elements of the U.S. approach, said Andrew Hyde, who studies U.S.-European relations at the Stimson Center, a nonpartisan foreign policy think tank.
Hyde said international talks are important for sorting out how CHMR applies in joint operations when the United States, NATO and European nations all have different interpretations of harm mitigation.
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States → boast → mitigation
The diminished U.S. role, he said, means NATO and other partners must step up on coordination.
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NATO → say → coordination
The shift in leadership could end up shielding civilian protection work from the whims of whichever U.S. administration is in power and leading to more enduring reforms, Hyde said.
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Hyde → end → reforms
“NATO has continued to push forward without U.S. support or participation, keeping up the momentum and ready for U.S. re-engagement,” Hyde said.
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Hyde → continue → engagement
