Reports Show Pentagon Reduced Civilian Oversight Before Iranian School Attack
Under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the number of Pentagon employees focused on preventing civilian casualties reportedly fell from about 200 to fewer than 40. Among the affected units was the Civilian Protection Center of Excellence, which saw major staff reductions last year. At the same time, the team responsible for monitoring civilian harm at *Central Command* was reduced from ten members to just one. Hegseth has described these oversight offices as not contributing to his goals of “lethality.”
On February 28, during the first day of US-Israeli attacks on Iran, the Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school in Minab, Hormozgan province, was struck by one or more missiles. The attack reportedly killed at least 168 children aged 7–12 and several teachers, making it the deadliest single incident in the ongoing conflict. Media reports have geolocated videos suggesting a US Tomahawk missile impacted near the school, which was located next to a facility of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Hegseth dismissed the publicly available evidence, saying, “open source is not the place to determine what did or did not happen.”
Current and former officials told reports that the staffing reductions severely limited the Pentagon’s ability to investigate or prevent civilian casualties, raising concerns about oversight during military operations. The incident has intensified scrutiny of the department’s policies and the consequences of prioritizing battlefield “lethality” over civilian protection.
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