The United States will not be represented at the International Contact Group on Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response summit convening at NATO headquarters in Belgium. The absence follows Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s dismantling of the Pentagon’s Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response (CHMR) mission, a program the Defense Department established in 2022 and co-founded with the Netherlands.
The CHMR framework, pronounced "chimmer," was created to better protect civilians during combat, driven by lessons from conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. It established a specialized center for strike data collection and embedded advisers with regional commands to mitigate risks to noncombatants. The U.S. and the Netherlands formed the loose coalition in 2023, meeting multiple times to share best practices and address civilian casualty trends.
What the Left Is Saying
Former defense officials and advocacy groups describe the U.S. withdrawal from the forum as "humiliating" and "dangerous." They argue that abandoning the program undermines American moral authority and strategic interests, particularly amid rising civilian casualties reported in Iran following recent U.S.-Israeli strikes.
Jenny McAvoy, a former Defense Department official who helped shape the U.S. civilian protection program, stated that the early momentum for international cooperation has evaporated. "There will be a day when people who care about mitigating civilian harm can come back and say, 'OK, are we ready to solve this problem?'" McAvoy said. "But there are already enormous consequences of abandoning this work."
Advocates note that the CHMR guidelines helped foreign counterparts justify similar programs in their own countries. McAvoy explained that by acknowledging past mistakes, the U.S. gave "permission" to other governments to do the same. The current administration's rejection of these norms, critics say, isolates the U.S. from key allies who are continuing to strengthen civilian protection standards.
What the Right Is Saying
The Pentagon has declined to comment on the specific lack of U.S. participation in the Brussels talks. However, a spokesperson previously stated that the Defense Department factors civilian protections into all phases of operational planning and "remains committed to fulfilling its civilian harm mitigation and response responsibilities."
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has criticized rules of engagement as "woke," a framing that aligns with his broader effort to streamline military operations and reduce bureaucratic oversight. The administration has prioritized operational flexibility, viewing the CHMR program’s extensive data collection and advisory structures as impediments to decisive military action.
The reduction in staff for the CHMR program, from nearly 200 to approximately two dozen, reflects the administration’s focus on efficiency and direct command authority. Proponents of this approach argue that military leaders, not specialized civilian-centric bureaus, are best positioned to make tactical decisions regarding collateral damage in real-time combat scenarios.
What the Numbers Show
The CHMR program was adopted in 2022. In 2023, the U.S. and the Netherlands formed the International Contact Group, which has met approximately six times since its inception to discuss civilian casualty trends.
Staffing for the CHMR mission within the Pentagon has decreased significantly, dropping from nearly 200 employees to about two dozen following Secretary Hegseth’s directives. This reduction occurred despite objections from the nation’s top military commanders, according to ProPublica reporting.
The summit in Brussels is scheduled to take place with no U.S. delegation listed as a participant. Current and former officials predicted either a complete absence or, at most, a single delegate from one of the military commands would attend.
The Dutch context for the partnership includes a 2015 air strike in Iraq that killed at least 70 civilians and wounded hundreds, a fact not publicly acknowledged by the Dutch government until 2019. The U.S. context involves years of civilian harm in Iraq and Afghanistan that drew international outrage.
The Bottom Line
The U.S. absence from the NATO headquarters summit marks a definitive shift in American defense policy regarding civilian protection in wartime. By dismantling the CHMR infrastructure and withdrawing from the international forum, the administration has ended a multi-year effort to institutionalize data-driven approaches to minimizing noncombatant casualties.
While the Pentagon maintains that civilian protections remain part of operational planning, the removal of specialized staff and the lack of diplomatic engagement suggest a retreat from the leadership role the U.S. previously held in this area. Allies participating in the summit will continue to develop shared standards without American input, potentially creating a divergence between U.S. military practices and international norms.
Observers will watch to see if other Western powers maintain the CHMR framework independently and whether the U.S. faces diplomatic pressure to re-engage with these standards in future coalition operations. The immediate consequence is a void in leadership for an initiative that was designed to address the strategic and moral complexities of modern warfare.