Nine Commanders Chose the First Option to Preserve the Enterprise As Much As Possible

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth eliminated a U.S. military program designed to protect civilians during operations, despite unanimous opposition from the nation's top commanders, according to current and former defense officials and memos reviewed by ProPublica. Shortly after taking office last year, Hegseth polled senior commanders about cutting the Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response (CHMR) program, betting they would endorse his view that focusing on civilian security was "woke" and out of step with maximum lethality. Instead, every commander rebuffed the idea, cementing top-level military support for the relatively new program adopted after years of heavy civilian tolls in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

In the poll, Hegseth gave commanders three options: cut 65% of staff but keep the effort operational, continue with only a small centralized office in Washington, or eliminate the program. Nine commanders chose the first option to preserve the enterprise as much as possible. Leaders of two commands, one overseeing the nuclear arsenal and the other focused on cyber threats, declined all three options, asking to maintain the full program.

Central Command, the Tampa, Florida-based center overseeing military action in the Middle East, pressed to keep its full CHMR staff of 16. "Eliminating or scaling back the effort would result in decreased efficiency of U.S." lethal operations due to an increased risk of target misidentification and reduced battlespace awareness, a memo reviewed by ProPublica said. Army Gen. Erik Kurilla, then in charge of Central Command, and several other senior officers directly involved in combat operations appealed to Hegseth to keep the program, but that intent was overridden. Hegseth gutted the effort, leaving only a handful of people to carry out the mission and stripping almost all of its funding, even as the U.S. launched new campaigns in Somalia, Yemen and Iran.

One official summed up the Hegseth approach as: "Bombs away! Hegseth later told a gathering of hundreds of generals and admirals: "No more politically correct and overbearing rules of engagement. Now, after U.S. missile strikes have killed hundreds of civilians in Iran and Yemen, drawing global criticism and questions from Congress, the program could soon be partially revived.

The about-face would mark a rare reversal in a department that hasn't tolerated dissent under Hegseth and President Donald Trump. The first major military operation of Hegseth's tenure, an air campaign in Yemen in spring 2025, killed 153 civilians and wounded 243 others. The majority of deaths came from just two strikes, ranking them among the deadliest for civilians the Pentagon has acknowledged in modern warfare, said Airwars, a British watchdog.

Hegseth described the Yemen operation at the time as a clear, limited mission executed with ruthlessness, full stop. By the time the U.S. began attacking Iran the next year, the civilian protection program was down from a little under 200 people to around two dozen, some working only part time. Central Command, which said it needed a minimum of nine of its 16 staffers to function, was left with one person.

On the first day of the U.S. and Israel's war on Iran, a U.S. airstrike hit a school in Minab, a city near the Strait of Hormuz, killing more than 100 children. Hegseth and Adm. Brad Cooper, the commander in charge of the Iran operation, were questioned about the strike before Congress.

Early reports on that investigation, yet to be publicly released, have said outdated U.S. intelligence led to the attack on the school. The Pentagon did not respond to requests for comment.