I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7174 

To enhance protections of civilians during United States military operations, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 11, 2020 

Mr. KHANNA introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To enhance protections of civilians during United States 

military operations, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protection of Civilians 

5 in Military Operations Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

7 It is the sense of Congress— 

8 (1) to commend the Department of Defense for 

9 the measures it has implemented and is currently 

10 implementing to prevent, mitigate, track, investigate, 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 7174 IH

1 learn from, respond to, and report civilian casualties 

2 resulting from United States military operations; 

3 (2) to agree with the Department that civilian 

4 casualties are a tragic and unavoidable part of war, 

5 and to recognize that— 

6 (A) the Department endeavors to conduct 

7 all military operations in compliance with the 

8 international law of armed conflict and the laws 

9 of the United States, including distinction, pro10 portionality, and the requirement to take fea11 sible precautions in planning and conducting 

12 operations to reduce the risk of harm to civil13 ians and other protected persons and objects; 

14 and 

15 (B) the protection of civilians and other 

16 protected persons and objects, in addition to a 

17 legal obligation and a strategic interest, is a 

18 moral and ethical imperative; 

19 (3) that the Department has submitted to Con20 gress three successive annual reports on civilian cas21 ualties resulting from United States military oper22 ations for calendar years 2017, 2018, and 2019, and 

23 has updated reports as appropriate; and 

24 (4) to recognize the efforts of the Department, 

25 both in policy and in practice, to reduce the harm 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 7174 IH

1 to civilians and other protected persons and objects 

2 resulting from United States military operations, 

3 and to encourage the Department to make addi4 tional progress in— 

5 (A) developing at all combatant commands 

6 personnel and offices responsible for advising 

7 the commanders of such commands, and inte8 grating into command strategy, the promotion 

9 of observance of human rights and the protec10 tion of civilians and other protected persons 

11 and objects; 

12 (B) finalizing and implementing the policy 

13 of the Department relating to civilian casualties 

14 resulting from United States military oper15 ations, as required by section 936 of the John 

16 S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act 

17 for Fiscal Year 2019 (10 U.S.C. 134 note); 

18 (C) finalizing Department-wide regulations 

19 to implement section 1213 of the National De20 fense Authorization for Fiscal Year 2020 (Pub21 lic Law 116–92) for ex gratia payments for 

22 damage, personal injury, or death that is inci23 dent to the use of force by the United States 

24 Armed Forces, a coalition that includes the 

25 United States, a military organization supVerDate Sep 11 2014 19:15 Jul 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7174.IH H7174

pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 7174 IH

1 porting the United States, or a military organi2 zation supporting the United States or such co3 alition; and 

4 (D) professionalizing foreign partner forces 

5 to reduce civilian casualties, including in con6 nection with train and equip programs, advise, 

7 assist, accompany, and enable missions, and 

8 fully combined and coalition operations. 

9 SEC. 3. MODIFICATION OF ANNUAL REPORT ON CIVILIAN 

10 CASUALTIES IN CONNECTION WITH UNITED 

11 STATES MILITARY OPERATIONS. 

12 Section 1057 of the National Defense Authorization 

13 Act for Fiscal Year 2018 (10 U.S.C. 113 note) is amend14 ed— 

15 (1) in subsection (b)— 

16 (A) by redesignating paragraphs (2) 

17 through (9) as paragraphs (3) through (10), re18 spectively; 

19 (B) by inserting after paragraph (1) the 

20 following new paragraph (2): 

21 ‘‘(2) A list of each authorized advise, assist, ac22 company, and enable mission during the year cov23 ered by such report during which civilian casualties 

24 or human rights abuses by partner forces were ob25 served or later reported.’’; and 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 7174 IH

1 (C) in subparagraph (A) of paragraph (4), 

2 as redesignated by subparagraph (A) of this 

3 paragraph, by inserting before the semicolon 

4 the following: ‘‘, and any measures in place for 

5 preventing, mitigating, and responding to the 

6 death or injury to civilians that occurs during 

7 advise, assist, accompany, and enable missions 

8 conducted by United States military personnel’’; 

9 (2) in subsection (d)— 

10 (A) in the second sentence, by striking ‘‘, 

11 and shall be made available’’ and all that fol12 lows and inserting a period; and 

13 (B) by adding at the end the following new 

14 sentence: ‘‘The unclassified form of each report 

15 shall be published on an Internet website of the 

16 Department available to the public concurrently 

17 with its submission to Congress.’’; 

18 (3) by redesignating subsection (e) as sub19 section (f); and 

20 (4) by inserting after subsection (d) the fol21 lowing new subsection (e): 

22 ‘‘(e) HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES DEFINED.—In this 

23 section the term ‘human rights abuses’ has the meaning 

24 given the term ‘gross violations of internationally recogVerDate Sep 11 2014 19:15 Jul 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7174.IH H7174

pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 7174 IH

1 nized human rights’ in section 502B(d)(1) of the Foreign 

2 Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2304(d)(1)).’’. 

3 SEC. 4. INTEGRITY OF CIVILIAN CASUALTY INVESTIGA4 TIONS. 

5 (a) INVESTIGATIONS BY OFFICERS OUTSIDE UNIT

6 OR CHAIN OF COMMAND.—A commander in the Armed 

7 Forces conducting an administrative investigation, com8 mander directed inquiry, or equivalent investigation on ci9 vilian casualties resulting from a United States military 

10 operation that was undertaken by one or more units under 

11 the command of the commander shall, to the extent prac12 ticable, select as an officer to conduct such investigation 

13 an officer in the Armed Forces outside of such units or 

14 chain of command. 

15 (b) SEPARATION OF INVESTIGATIVE PERSONNEL

16 FROM PERSONNEL INVOLVED IN OPERATIONS.—The 

17 military or civilian personnel of the Armed Forces who 

18 conduct an investigation on civilian casualties resulting 

19 from a United States military operation shall, to the ex20 tent practicable, be operationally separate from members 

21 of the Armed Forces who were directly involved in such 

22 operation. 

23 (c) SITE VISITATIONS IN INVESTIGATIONS.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each investigation on civil25 ian casualties resulting from a United States miliVerDate Sep 11 2014 19:15 Jul 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7174.IH H7174

pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 7174 IH

1 tary operation shall, to the extent practicable, in2 clude a visit (including the interview of civilian sur3 vivors and witnesses after their informed consent) by 

4 appropriate members of the United States Armed 

5 Forces to each site at which civilian casualties were 

6 confirmed or reasonably suspected in connection 

7 with such operation. 

8 (2) VISITS BY ALTERNATIVE PERSONNEL.—If 

9 the Secretary of Defense determines that a visit by 

10 members of the United States Armed Forces to a 

11 site as otherwise required by paragraph (1) is not 

12 practicable, the Secretary shall— 

13 (A) memorialize, in writing, the justifica14 tion for such determination; 

15 (B) make every reasonable effort to obtain 

16 such a visit by appropriate military or civilian 

17 personnel of a partner or coalition military 

18 force, or by personnel of the national govern19 ment concerned, or a local government, capable 

20 of making such a visit in connection with the 

21 investigation concerned; and 

22 (C) memorialize, in writing— 

23 (i) the results of any visit under sub24 paragraph (B); or 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
8 

•HR 7174 IH

1 (ii) if no visit could be obtained under 

2 that subparagraph, the gaps in evidence in 

3 the investigation concerned as a result of 

4 the lack of such a visit. 

5 SEC. 5. COORDINATION BETWEEN GEOGRAPHIC COMBAT6 ANT COMMANDS AND THE DEPARTMENT OF 

7 STATE. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

9 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense 

10 shall direct each commander of a geographic combatant 

11 command to coordinate with the Department of State to 

12 establish and maintain an uninterrupted line of commu13 nication between such command and the Chief of Mission 

14 (of the Chief’s designee) in any country in which such 

15 command is conducting military operations in order to as16 sist in the response to reports of civilian casualties result17 ing from such military operations. 

18 (b) PRIMARY OBJECTIVE.—The primary objective of 

19 the line of communication under this section shall be to 

20 serve as a channel for fielding and coordinating reports 

21 of civilian casualties resulting from United States military 

22 operations undertaken by the command concerned in the 

23 country concerned. 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
9 

•HR 7174 IH

1 SEC. 6. DATABASE ON REPORTS ON INVESTIGATIONS. 

2 (a) DATABASE REQUIRED.—Not later than one year 

3 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

4 of Defense shall establish and maintain within the Depart5 ment of Defense a database that preserves and organizes 

6 reports of the Department on investigations of civilian cas7 ualties resulting from United States military operations 

8 (including reports under section 1057 of the National De9 fense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018, as amended 

10 by section 3 of this Act), and the results of such investiga11 tions. 

12 (b) SEARCHABILITY.—The database required by sub13 section (a) shall be searchable by personnel across the De14 partment. 

15 (c) AVAILABILITY TO PUBLIC.—The public shall have 

16 access to, and be able to search, the database required 

17 by subsection (a) through an internet website of the De18 partment that is available to the public. For purposes of 

19 such access, appropriate information in the database may 

20 be maintained in a classified annex in the interests of the 

21 national security of the United States, and access to such 

22 annex appropriately limited. 

23 (d) UPDATE.—The database required by subsection 

24 (a) shall be updated not less frequently than once each 

25 year. 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
10 

•HR 7174 IH

1 SEC. 7. RESOURCES TO IMPLEMENT DEPARTMENT OF DE2 FENSE POLICY ON CIVILIAN CASUALTIES IN 

3 CONNECTION WITH UNITED STATES MILI4 TARY OPERATIONS. 

5 (a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to fa6 cilitate fulfillment of the requirements in section 936 of 

7 the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act 

8 for Fiscal Year 2019 (10 U.S.C. 134 note). 

9 (b) PERSONNEL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

10 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense 

11 shall do the following: 

12 (1) Add to, and assign within, each of the 

13 United States Central Command, the United States 

14 Africa Command, the United States Special Oper15 ations Command, the United States European Com16 mand, the United States Southern Command, the 

17 United States Indo-Pacific Command, and the 

18 United States Northern Command not fewer than 

19 two personnel who shall have primary responsibility 

20 for the following in connection with military oper21 ations undertaken by such command: 

22 (A) Providing guidance and oversight re23 lating to prevention of and response to civilian 

24 casualties, promotion of observance of human 

25 rights, and the protection of civilians and civil26 ian infrastructure. 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
11 

•HR 7174 IH

1 (B) Overseeing civilian casualty response 

2 functions on behalf of the commander of such 

3 command. 

4 (C) Receiving reports of civilian casualties 

5 and conduct of civilian casualty assessments. 

6 (D) Analyzing civilian casualty incidents 

7 and trends. 

8 (E) Offering condolences for casualties, in9 cluding ex gratia payments. 

10 (F) Ensuring the integration of activities 

11 relating to civilian casualty mitigation, protec12 tion of civilians, and promotion of observance of 

13 human rights in security cooperation activities. 

14 (G) Consulting with non-governmental or15 ganizations on civilian casualty and human 

16 rights matters. 

17 (2) Add to, and assign within, the Office of the 

18 Under Secretary for Policy not fewer than two per19 sonnel who shall have primary responsibility for im20 plementing and overseeing implementation by the 

21 components of the Department of Defense of De22 partment policy on civilian casualties resulting from 

23 United States military operations. 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
12 

•HR 7174 IH

1 (3) Add to, and assign within, the Joint Staff 

2 not fewer than two personnel who shall have primary 

3 responsibility for the following: 

4 (A) Overseeing implementation by the com5 ponents of the Department of Defense of De6 partment policy on civilian casualties resulting 

7 from United States military operations. 

8 (B) Developing and sharing in the imple9 mentation of such policy. 

10 (C) Communicating operational guidance 

11 on such policy. 

12 (c) TRAINING, SOFTWARE, AND OTHER REQUIRE13 MENTS.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—In each of fiscal years 2021 

15 through 2023, the Secretary of Defense and each 

16 Secretary of a military department may obligate and 

17 expend, from amounts specified in paragraph (2), 

18 not more than $5,000,000 for the following: 

19 (A) Training related to civilian casualty 

20 mitigation and response. 

21 (B) Information technology equipment, 

22 support and maintenance, and data storage, in 

23 order to implement— 

24 (i) the policy of the Department re25 lated relating to civilian casualties resultVerDate Sep 11 2014 19:15 Jul 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7174.IH H7174

pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
13 

•HR 7174 IH

1 ing from United States military operations 

2 as required by section 936 of the John S. 

3 McCain National Defense Authorization 

4 Act for Fiscal Year 2019; and 

5 (ii) the database required by section 

6 6. 

7 (2) FUNDS.—The funds for a fiscal year speci8 fied in this subparagraph are funds as follows: 

9 (A) In the case of the Secretary of De10 fense, amounts authorized to be appropriated 

11 for such fiscal year for operation and mainte12 nance, Defense-wide. 

13 (B) In the case of a Secretary of a military 

14 department, amounts authorized to be appro15 priated for such fiscal year for operation and 

16 maintenance for the components of the Armed 

17 Forces under the jurisdiction of such Secretary. 

18 SEC. 8. UNITED STATES MILITARY OPERATIONS DEFINED. 

19 In this Act, the term ‘‘United States military oper20 ations’’ includes any mission, strike, engagement, raid, or 

21 incident involving United States Armed Forces. 

Æ 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS