Pentagon watchdog – A scathing Pentagon inspector general report says cuts to civilian harm mitigation left the Department of War unable to adequately protect civilians in conflict zones, while efforts to verify strikes—such as a civilian-harm tracking database—were discontinued.
When the Pentagon’s internal watchdog finished its review. it did not frame the problem as a minor lapse or a temporary budget squeeze.. In a Thursday analysis. the Department of War’s inspector general said cuts to civilian harm mitigation and response efforts have been so severe that the United States cannot adequately protect civilians in conflict zones.
The critique landed the same day as other public disputes over whether civilian casualties can be independently verified.. The top U.S.. commander overseeing the war in Iran dismissed reports of civilian casualties and said the United States has no means to corroborate claims about strikes on hospitals and schools.
At the center of the inspector general’s findings is the Pentagon’s 2022 Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response Action Plan. or CHMR-AP. mandated to be fully implemented by the end of 2025.. The watchdog concluded the department “did not fully implement any of the CHMR-AP objectives by the end of FY 2025. ” citing serious deficiencies and what it described as chronic failure to meet timelines for 11 objectives. including 133 incomplete “implementing actions” by the end of last year.
The report also points to a break in the system meant to track and help verify civilian harm. It says the military stopped funding a database used for civilian-harm data management—an instrument officials could have relied on to corroborate incidents in conflict areas.
For Rep.. Sara Jacobs. a California Democrat and House Armed Services Committee member. the watchdog’s language signals more than failure of execution.. “This is a crisis of the Trump Administration’s own making: They slashed the staffing and funding for civilian harm mitigation. and now they can’t adequately follow the law and implement the CHMR-AP. leaving civilians and our own military personnel at risk. ” Jacobs said.. She added that the inspector general’s findings mean “wasted munitions. failed strikes. damaged alliances. and propaganda wins for our adversaries. ” arguing that the administration “needs to reverse course immediately so we can save lives and protect our national security.”
Those concerns are amplified by testimony and reporting that the CHMR enterprise has been weakened from multiple angles.. The inspector general’s report says the Pentagon ended funding for the CHMR data management platform. stopped holding Steering Committee meetings. and reassigned or lost personnel dedicated to CHMR.. It also describes leadership and staffing losses at the Center of Excellence focused on training and providing tools to prevent civilian casualties.
Wes Bryant. who previously served as chief of civilian harm assessments at the Center of Excellence. called the inspector general report a “whitewash” that downplays what he says was the effective dismantling of the program.. “It is completely whitewashed of the truth,” Bryant said.. “It reads as if the IG is completely deliberately ignoring the fact that the center and the entire CHMR enterprise was targeted for immediate shutdown. that 90 percent of billets were either terminated or forced out. and that what exists of the Center of Excellence since March 2025 is a shell on paper with no budget. no mandate or real mission. no authority and is completely locked out of visibility and oversight on all investigations and operations.”
The watchdog’s evaluation also found that the War Department “may not comply with its civilian casualties and harm policy. ” which it said is required under federal law.. It further concluded that eliminating CHMR funding and personnel “decreases readiness and increases risk to DoW personnel. mission success. and military objectives.” Joint Staff officials. according to the report. and officials in geographic combatant commands also warned that removing CHMR resources makes mitigating or responding to civilian harm more difficult.
They warned that such changes increase risks that range beyond civilian casualties alone, including “damaged coalitions and alliances,” “loss of legitimacy,” “increased local resistance,” “propaganda opportunities for adversaries,” “prolonged conflicts,” and “failed strikes.”
One practical gap highlighted in the report centers on the ability to handle the volume of civilian-casualty reports.. Airwars, a U.K.-based watchdog group, attempted to submit documentation to U.S.. Southern Command after a U.S.. attack on Venezuela in January.. It learned SOUTHCOM had “no mechanism” for submitting those reports.. After contacting the Pentagon, Airwars was told to submit documentation to the Center of Excellence.
The inspector general report notes the Center’s support for organizations such as SOUTHCOM. even as it describes the Center as having lost “large numbers of personnel and leaders. ” lacking “the tools designed to meet its statutory roles and duties. ” and—according to the report—facing plans developed by the Army “to euthanize it” early last year.
The report also relays statements from combatant command officials.. One unnamed official said the command “largely divested their CHMR personnel. functions. and responsibilities as of March 2025.” Another said they did not “want to spend resources on actions or make future commitments for a program that may be significantly changed.”
The CHMR failures are playing out amid an already contentious record of civilian harm claims across multiple theaters. from Latin America to Africa and the Middle East.. Reporting cited by the watchdog discussion says more than 2. 000 civilians have been killed across the world during Trump’s second term. and Airwars described the scale as “unprecedented” in the number of theaters where harm has been reported in a short period.
Airwars tracked reports of at least 224 civilians in Yemen killed during the Trump administration’s campaign of air and naval strikes—“Operation Rough Rider”—against Yemen’s Houthi government in the spring of 2025.. It said that toll nearly doubled the civilian casualty figure in Yemen from U.S.. attacks since 2002. with nearly as many civilians reported killed in 52 days as in the previous 23 years of airstrikes and commando raids.
In Iran, reporting described a preliminary U.S.. military investigation revealed in connection with the school strike in Minab in February—an event that contradicted claims by President Donald Trump that Iran struck the school.. More than 150 civilians were said to have been killed, “most of them children.”
During a hearing Thursday, Adm.. Brad Cooper—described as the senior officer overseeing U.S.. combat operations in Iran—told senators that the strike on the school in Minab was the only civilian casualty incident he knew of after more than 13. 600 U.S.. strikes.. Cooper’s remarks were tested by Sen.. Kirsten Gillibrand. who asked how the public record can be reconciled with the claim that only one incident is known. citing reporting that 22 schools and multiple hospitals were hit.. “There’s no way we can corroborate that,” Cooper replied.
The inspector general report reinforces that verification problem, saying the civilian harm tracking database was abandoned after the Army stopped funding the data management platform. Cooper said preventing civilian harm is “a matter that I’m passionate about.”
The broader accusation from critics is that the weakening of transparency and accountability is not confined to CHMR funding.. Bryant and other advocates point to overlapping efforts by Hegseth to weaken transparency. scuttle accountability. hobble military justice. and undercut protections for civilians in conflict.. The reporting described Hegseth replacing the Pentagon press corps with pro-administration sycophants and firing top legal authorities of the Army and the Air Force last year. while reportedly pursuing changes that would encourage lawyers to approve more aggressive tactics and take a more lenient approach to violations of the laws of war.
In House Armed Services Committee testimony late last month. Hegseth dismissed congressional concerns about civilian harm and respect for the laws of war. responding “The Department of War fights to win” when asked if he stood by his statement that the U.S.. would afford enemies “no quarter”—described in the reporting as a war crime.
Even as the U.S. appears to be “clinging” to a ceasefire with Iran for more than a month, Trump has previously threatened to commit genocide there, the reporting says, quoting his Friday remark: “We’ll go back and finish them off. And, by the way, more than that.”
Bryant said congressional attention and press coverage have kept “the lights on” at what remains of the Center of Excellence. but he disputed that the program operates as intended.. “Given all the controversy and heat that Hegseth and the administration have since received for civilian casualties. it has behooved them to be able to technically say that some semblance of the program still exists. ” Bryant said.. “However. I can tell you with 100 percent confidence that it exists at this point entirely on paper and as a legal CYA. ” he added. using the phrase “cover your ass.”
For Madison Hunke, the U.S.. program manager of the Center for Civilians in Conflict. the inspector general report is a warning tied directly to Congress’s next budget steps.. Hunke said that as Congress develops funding for the upcoming fiscal year. lawmakers must ensure the department receives resources “to comply with law and policy” and must conduct “rigorous oversight” to keep the Pentagon accountable for implementing the programs she described as “critical.”
Pentagon inspector general civilian harm mitigation CHMR-AP Pete Hegseth Center of Excellence Iran war U.S. Southern Command accountability war crimes federal law oversight