WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Near East, South Asia, Central Asia, and Counterterrorism, spoke on Tuesday at a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the importance of strengthening the U.S. Department of Defense’s efforts to prevent civilian deaths in U.S. combat operations.

Murphy pressed Elizabeth Richard, nominee for the State Department’s Coordinator for Counterterrorism, on her commitment to minimizing civilian harm: “You've served in Yemen, you know the reports of pretty significant civilian casualties of our drone operations. You've also probably seen research suggesting that in areas where we have had the highest level of drone activity, often terrorist groups have the highest level of recruitment success. I just want your commitment that you're going to work with the Department of Defense to ensure that we minimize civilian harm.”

In March, Murphy sent a letter urging the Pentagon to open new investigations into reports of civilian harm from U.S. military operations in Yemen, following Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III’s directive earlier this year to improve the way the Department of Defense investigates and acknowledges claims of civilian harm in U.S. combat operations. Murphy along with U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and U.S. Representative Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) also led nine other senators and 38 members of the House of Representatives in a letter to President Biden expressing concern about the United States’ targeting criteria for drone strikes that has led to the deaths of thousands of civilians, with little accountability.

You can read Murphy’s full exchange with Elizabeth Richard, Nominee for Coordinator for Counterterrorism:

MURPHY: “I wanted to ask you a question about a January directive from Secretary Austin to strengthen efforts to prevent civilian deaths and improve the way the DoD investigates claims of civilian harm in U.S. combat operations, and this is specifically relevant to drone strikes. You've served in Yemen, you know the reports of pretty significant civilian casualties of our drone operations. You've also probably seen research suggesting that in areas where we have had the highest level of drone activity, often terrorist groups have the highest level of recruitment success.

“I just want your commitment that you're going to work with the Department of Defense to ensure that we minimize civilian harm. And also in a very short amount of time, get your takeaways as to the upside and downside of our drone activities as a mechanism to combat terrorism.”

RICHARD: “Thank you for that question. And it's as you know, an obviously very complex and fraught issue. I have worked with my DoD colleagues very closely in every assignment I've been in the last 15 years.

“And I've seen firsthand how hard this is, because there's the need to deal with an imminent threat often against our own troops or our own American citizens, and the need to balance the civilian casualties. And I have really welcomed DoD’s ability to look at it this, accept that there's a problem and really get after trying to figure out how to do it better. And so if I'm confirmed, I would really welcome working with them from the civilian side of the house on how to do that.”

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