The Army has quietly shuttered a short-lived Defense Department office dedicated to safeguarding civilians in conflict zones, less than two years after its founding, according to a service document reviewed by Military.com.
The Civilian Protection Center of Excellence, which once housed roughly 30 staff, has been folded into the Army’s dense web of unrelated bureaucratic policy shops.
One Army official described the shift as part of a larger streamlining effort. But another official familiar with the move said it amounts to “strategic sidelining,” warning that the reorganization effectively buries the Pentagon’s already fragile commitment to minimizing civilian harm.
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“They’ve killed the office, plain and simple,” the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press, told Military.com.
The office worked with a modest $7 million annual budget and helped with the planning of combat operations in order to minimize casualties. It also analyzed those operations, including drone strikes and bombing campaigns.
Reducing civilian casualties has long been a priority for the services but became more of a focus during the Global War on Terror era, which saw more urban combat than traditional battlefields and civilians frequently caught in the crossfire. Terror organizations such as the Islamic State often used any civilian casualties as propaganda and recruiting tools.
The move to close the office comes shortly after the Army eliminated mandatory training related to the laws of war, which govern the rules of engagement, professional behavior for troops while in combat, and proper treatment of detainees.
It also comes as President Donald Trump has deployed some 4,000 National Guard troops, most of whom ultimately fall under the Army, and 700 active-duty Marines to combat immigration protests in Los Angeles, a move denounced by state leaders and local law enforcement as an overreach of federal power. Critics have slammed the deployment as an unprecedented use of military force against American civilians.
Eliminating the civilian protection office has been in the works since at least January. President Donald Trump has spent much of his early second tenure eroding legal guardrails, including the firing of Robert Storch, the inspector general at the Defense Department, among other legal watchdogs across the federal government.
In his book, “The War on Warriors,” Hegseth described the military’s judge advocates general, or JAGs, as “jagoffs.” During his Senate confirmation hearing, he told lawmakers, “We follow rules, but we don’t need burdensome rules of engagement,” tiptoeing around questions about whether he supports the idea of torture.
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