Hegseth Ignored Military Officials When He Slashed Offices That Limit Risk To Civilians

Top military officials warned the Pentagon unsuccessfully last year not to gut oversight offices that limit risk to civilian casualties and investigate responsibility for their deaths, such as the recent strike on an Iranian girls’ school that killed hundreds of children.

Then-Central Command chief Erik Kurilla and Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. C.Q. Brown pushed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth not to slash the Civilian Protection Center of Excellence and other similar initiatives at American command posts, according to Wes Bryant, the Pentagon’s former chief of civilian harm assessments and two other people familiar with the matter.

Opponents of the move, which also included Adm. Christopher Grady — the former vice chair of the Joint Chiefs — argued that the staff were critical to preventing risks to civilian populations before U.S. strikes and to probing deadly Pentagon attacks, according to the people, and would ultimately save resources for military operations. Hegseth instead chose to reduce the numberof employees working on the issue from 200 to less than 40.

The high level of opposition to the cuts, which has not been previously reported, hints at the tension between top military officials and their civilian leader over the rules of engagement in combat, which the Pentagon chief has called “stupid.” It also comes as preliminary reports suggestthe U.S. may have accidentally targeted the elementary school, which killed more than 170 students and is the largest U.S.-led killing of civilians in decades.

“As it turns out, when you kill less civilians, you tend to be putting your resources toward killing the enemy,” said Bryant, who served in the Biden and Trump administrations. “When they spend weeks or longer tracking some guy and then finally killing him, and then realize he's just an aid worker, look at all those resources they spent, all that time, the funding, wasted munitions too, and assets wasted on the wrong person.”

The revelation of previous backlash also follows Hegseth’s announcement this week that he would further cut the lawyers who advise commanders of an operation’s legality, known as judge advocate generals. He already fired many of those Army, Navy, and Air Force lawyers in the first days of the administration.

The decision to dismantle the civilian casualty offices could intensify criticism as more details emerge about the school struck next to an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps base in the opening hours of the U.S.-Israeli operation. Democrats have used the incident to call for Hegseth’s resignation.

Kurilla, who later became one of the Pentagon’s point people for U.S. military strikes against Iran’s nuclear program in June 2025, sent a classified memo up the Defense Department’s chain of command opposing the cuts, according to one of the people. The person, like others interviewed, was granted anonymity out of fear of retribution.

But the Pentagon center and similar offices at the combatant commands were slashed by more than 90 percent, according to a current and former official, and a person familiar with the effort. Central Command’s branch that examines potential civilian harm was slashed from 10 people to just one.

Joint Special Operations Command, which oversees the ongoing attacks against alleged drug runners off the Venezuelan coast, had its civilian harm office eliminated entirely.

The special operations command, which was then led by Vice Adm. Frank Bradley, also pushed back on the cuts, according to the people.

U.S. Central Command declined to comment. U.S. Special Operations Command, which Bradley leads, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff did not respond to requests for comment.

The Defense Department's civilian harm offices are “undergoing a strategic reassessment to inform its future reorganization” the Pentagon said in a statement, with the aim of integrating the functions directly into the combatant commands. “The department continues to recognize the importance of civilian harm mitigation and remains confident in our military’s ability to strike with precision while minimizing civilian casualties.”

Brown, who wasfired by Hegsethin February 2025, said he had “nothing to provide” and added that the decision was made after his ouster.

Kurilla did not respond to requests for comment. Grady could not be reached for comment.

The renewed attention to the gutted offices comes as the conflict nears its third week with no clear end date. Hegseth said Friday at a press conference that the new Iranian leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is “wounded and likely disfigured” and portrayed the war as largely contained.

Iran’s effort to block the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world's oil flows through, was “something we are dealing with” Hegseth said. “No quarter, no mercy for our enemies.”

The Pentagon continues to build up forces in the Middle East and is moving additional Marines and warships to the region, according to a defense official. They should arrive in the coming days from the Pacific. The Wall Street Journal first reported the deployment.

Hegseth’s comments followed the death of six American service members whose refueling plane collided with another aircraft in western Iraq. At least 13 U.S. troops have died in the war and according to Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, more than a thousand Iranians.

Tensions within the Pentagon over the gutted offices are likely to continue.

“I do know that there are people, not a small amount of people inside the Pentagon itself, that are behind [civilian harm mitigation and response],” said Bryant, the former official.

“It said ‘civilian protection,’ and that's woke,” Bryant said, referencing Hegseth’s efforts to root out diversity and equity programs he believes undermines the military’s core missions. “Ultimately, it was going to be cut.”