The protection of civilians is a strategic priority as well as a moral imperative. Our

efforts to mitigate and respond to civilian harm directly reflect our values and also directly contribute to achieving mission success. The excellence and professionalism in operations essential to preventing, mitigating, and responding to civilian harm is also what makes us the world's most effective military force. It is therefore critical that we continue to improve our efforts to mitigate the harm that armed conflict visits upon civilians. We will ensure that we are well prepared to prevent, mitigate, and respond to civilian harm in current and future conflicts, including by integrating civilian protection into our mission objectives from the start; prioritizing the protection and restoration of the civilian environment as much as the situation allows;

ensuring that operational commanders are well supported with institutional resources, tools, and capabilities that contribute to the protection of civilians; aligning our information collection

priorities to best achieve mission success, including the discriminate use of force; assessing and learning relevant lessons from our operations; and appropriately responding to civilians harmed as a result of our operations.

On January 27, 2022, I issued a memorandum directing the development of 'a Civilian

Harm Mitigation and Response Action Plan (CHMR-AP) to outline the steps the Department will take and the necessary resources to improve how the Department mitigates and responds to civilian harm. Accordingly, the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy convened a team of

subject matter experts from across the Department to draft the action plan based on

recommendations from recently-completed studies of civilian harm sponsored by DoD, recent DoD Office of the Inspector General evaluations, and independent reviews of civilian casualty incidents. Throughout the development of the CHMR-AP, the team consulted with relevant offices throughout DoD, other relevant U.S. Government departments and agencies,

representatives of various civil society groups, and a range of other experts, and the resulting plan has undergone extensive review at the highest levels of DoD.

The CHMR-AP clearly identifies how DoD will systematically improve our approach to

civilian harm mitigation and response. We will integrate CHMR considerations throughout our decision-making in a manner that informs how we plan and conduct operations. Importantly, this plan is scalable and relevant to both counterterrorism operations and large-scale conflicts against peer adversaries.