Hegseth ignored Centcom, cut program ahead of Iran school strike: Report
Hegseth ignored Centcom, cut program ahead of Iran school strike: Report
What kind of leader asks his top military commanders for advice and then ignores them because he doesn’t like the answer? Apparently Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
New reporting from ProPublica reveals that some of the nation’s top military commanders were polled by Hegseth about cutting a program called Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response, which was designed to reduce civilian casualties during U.S. military operations. The report notes that the top military officials overwhelmingly wanted to keep the program in place.
Central Command, which oversees U.S. military operations across much of the Middle East, specifically warned that scaling it back could increase the risk of misidentifying targets and reduce awareness on the battlefield.
Hegseth cut it anyway.
The reporting shows Hegseth viewed civilian-harm mitigation as part of a culture that was too politically correct and incompatible with his vision of the Department of War.
The Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response program was designed to improve targeting, understand conditions on........
