# Hegseth's War Crimes

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/explaining-history-7091240/hegseth-s-war-crimes
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/explaining-history-7091240/hegseth-s-war-crimes.md
Podcast: [Explaining History](https://stenobird.com/podcast/explaining-history-7091240)
Published: 2026-08-31T16:57:22+00:00
Episode link: http://explaininghistory.org
Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/acast/s/explaininghistory/e/6a95b2721d52ae16bad67b45/media.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/explaining-history-7091240/episodes/hegseth-s-war-crimes
Duration seconds: 1612

## Resource

Hegseth's War – The Catastrophic Consequences of Maximum Lethality In this week's solo episode, I examine a ProPublica investigation into Pete Hegseth's tenure as US Defence Secretary – and the catastrophic consequences of his "maximum lethality" doctrine. Here, I want to expand on some of the key themes we discussed. The Civilian Protection Programme The story begins with a programme called Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response (CHMR). It was a relatively new initiative, adopted after years of heavy civilian tolls in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. Its mission was to station personnel within major regional commands to develop a picture of life on the ground in combat zones, aiding decision-making on military strikes and helping to avoid or minimise civilian harm. Shortly after taking office, Hegseth polled the nation's top commanders about cutting the programme. He expected them to endorse his view that civilian security was "woke" and out of step with "maximum lethality." Instead, every commander rebuffed him. Nine chose to preserve the programme; two asked to expand it. Hegseth ignored them. He gutted the programme, cutting staff from nearly 200 to around two dozen, and reducing Central Command's team from 16 to one. The Consequences The results were predictable. In Yemen, an air campaign killed 153 civilians and wounded 243 others. In Iran, a US strike on a school killed more than 100 children. Democratic senators and humanitarian groups questioned whether the cuts had contributed to the school tragedy. In a letter to Hegseth, 11 senators said the strike reflected the administration's "broader disregard for the strategic, legal and moral imperatives to minimise civilian harm." But this is not a regime that cares about international law. As I argue in the episode,…

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