On the Media Hegseth’s Pentagon Axed a Program Meant to Save Civilian Lives
29 snips
Mar 13, 2026 
Wes J. Bryant, retired Air Force Master Sergeant and former Pentagon policy advisor who built a civilian harm mitigation initiative. David Gilbert, WIRED reporter on disinformation and online extremism. They talk about the Pentagon canceling a program meant to protect civilians and the consequences for targeting and accountability. They also explore how various right-wing corners are processing the Epstein files and conspiratorial reinterpretations.
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Center Shutdown Prompted Whistleblowing And Retaliation
- After Pete Hegseth became Secretary of Defense, a January memo began dissolving the Civilian Protection Center of Excellence and staff were instructed to resign or be fired.
- Bryant whistleblew to the Washington Post, went public, was placed on administrative leave, reprimanded, and had threats against his clearance and career.
Dismantling Protections Correlated With Spike In Civilian Deaths
- Bryant links the dismantling of civilian-harm infrastructure to a measurable spike in civilian casualties during recent campaigns like Yemen.
- He noted reports doubled in a week and specific unaccounted strikes, such as a detention center killing 61 migrants, went unexplained.
Double Check Targets With Dedicated Civilian Mapping Teams
- Maintain dedicated teams to map civilian environments and continuously update no-strike lists to prevent targeting mistakes.
- Bryant argued the center's personnel would have double- and triple-checked targets and likely prevented strikes like the school attack.