The scale and tempo of potential wars in East Asia and Eastern Europe pose daunting challenges to warfighters and immense risks to civilians. In response, the Department of Defense is strengthening its approach to reducing risks to civilians during conflicts, while maintaining or even improving its operational effectiveness. From multinational exercises to military schoolhouses to war-planning workshops, the U.S. military is operationalizing good practices for mitigating and responding to civilian harm, but many obstacles remain. What will the future bring to warzones and the civilians in those warzones?
Speaker Bio
Michael J. McNerney serves as the Director of the Civilian Protection Center of Excellence (CP CoE), the flagship institution in the U.S. Department of Defense dedicated to civilian harm mitigation and response. Mike received his master’s degree from the University of Maryland’s Government and Politics Department and worked at CISSM under its founder, Catherine Kelleher. He was a civil servant in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) for 17 years and a member of the Senior Executive Service. Mike also served as a senior researcher and acting director of the RAND Corporation’s International Security and Defense Policy Center. His research focused on defense planning, civil-military coordination, international security cooperation, and civilian harm. He has presented on various national security issues to several U.S. cabinet secretaries, White House staff, members of Congress, four-star military commanders, over a dozen foreign cabinet ministers, NATO's North Atlantic Council, and hundreds of government officials in over 35 countries.