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Abstract: U.S. Combatant Commands and other operational commands around the world have identified lessons and developed important tools to protect civilians and to counter efforts by adversaries to put civilians at risk. DoD’s CHMR program is responsible for identifying and institutionalizing these lessons for warfighters and helping them apply these tools in exercises and operations. One of the most challenging aspects of its mission is to help develop capabilities and procedures to address the illegal use of human shields by adversaries, including in urban environments and future LSCO. DoD’s efforts, therefore, would benefit from being re-tooled with a stronger focus on helping America’s military counter the efforts of its adversaries, particularly with regard to techniques like human shielding that place civilians at grave risk, ensuring that guidance actually enhances precision lethality, and equipping combatant commanders with data science tools and objective metrics needed to counter manipulation of the information environment.
The focus on civilian harm mitigation is critical for the mission effectiveness and precision lethality of U.S. forces. A retooled CHMR program could help the United States further hone its warfighting skills, enhance precision lethality, learn from the experience of our allies such as Israel who have been grappling with the problem of minimizing civilian casualties when fighting an enemy that uses civilians as human shields, and develop new technologies that will both assist with mitigating civilian harm in war and enhance lethality in both counter-terrorism operations and ultimately in large-scale combat operations.
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