Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response: The Imperative of an All-Domain Approach

The Department of Defense (DOD) seeks to reduce civilian harm caused by military operations and to improve its ability to respond when civilian harm occurs. To this end, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin approved and released the Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response Action Plan (CHMR-AP) on August 25, 2022. CHMR-AP is a watershed initiative in which DOD commits to improving its ability to prevent, mitigate, and respond to civilian harm. No amount of prevention or mitigation will eliminate civilian harm in armed conflict, nor does international law demand that civilian harm be eliminated. To give CHMR-AP the best chance at success, it must be implemented from a deliberately all-domain perspective, employing the best ideas of the Services with sufficient flexibility for application across the joint force. This article sup ports this assertion by first outlining how the Law of War protects civilians and how CHMR-AP seeks to provide greater civilian protection as a matter of policy.