Pentagon Civilian Protection Capacity Reduced

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has significantly reduced the Pentagon's civilian casualty oversight offices, impacting the U.S. military's ability to investigate incidents such as a recent strike on an Iranian girls' school.

These reductions, implemented over the past year, have decreased the number of personnel focused on mitigating civilian harm from approximately 200 to fewer than 40. The team at Central Command, responsible for civilian casualties in the Middle East, has been reduced from 10 to one.

This downsizing coincides with the U.S. military's largest air campaign in decades, targeting over 5,000 locations in Iran over 11 days. The strike on the Iranian school on February 28, 2026, which Iranian state media reported killed around 170 children and 14 teachers, occurred during the initial hours of this campaign. The Pentagon is investigating the incident, but the specific office conducting the inquiry remains unclear.

Critics argue that these actions, driven by a focus on "lethality" and a disregard for traditional rules of engagement, compromise the military's capacity for accountability and civilian protection. Despite congressional approval for these offices, their operational effectiveness has been severely diminished through resource cuts. This situation raises concerns among defense officials and human rights advocates regarding the thoroughness of civilian casualty investigations.