📋 Tender Overview
Lieutenant General Anderson agrees that following the laws of war to protect civilians is critical to our success and competition.
Vice Admiral Bradley voices support to study the long-term effects of blast overpressure exposure: People are more important than hardware and the critical part of those people is the intellectual capacity.
Washington D.C. - At a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) Ranking Member of the Personnel Subcommittee secured commitments from Vice Admiral Frank M. Bradley and Lieutenant General Dagvin R.M. Anderson nominees to be Commander of U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) and Commander of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) respectively on integrating and protecting reforms from Republican and Democratic administrations on civilian harm prevention. Senator Warren also secured support from Vice Admiral Bradley to partner with outside experts to conduct a longitudinal study of blast overpressure.
Senator Warren has continued to lead the charge in pushing Trump administration nominees to prioritize civilian harm prevention. In his March 2025 nomination hearing Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby with Senator Warren that civilian harm prevention is crucial to national security and that commanders can make better decisions in the field when they are trained on how to avoid civilian casualties.
During the hearing Senator Warren highlighted that the outgoing head of SOCOM General Fenton confirmed that civilian harm experts have assisted commanders and their staffs in mitigating civilian harm without compromising lethality and that their knowledge has enhanced precision preserving legitimacy and enabling mission success. Vice Admiral Bradley committed to keeping civilian harm prevention as a focus for our command and affirmed it is a critical obligation for all Department of Defense (DoD) personnel using or overseeing lethal force to protect civilians saying it is critical to our success and competition.
Similarly Lieutenant General Anderson said prioritizing civilian harm mitigation planning is a critically important show of our values and that he would carry forward efforts to work with regional partners on civilian harm prevention and investigating incidents of civilian harm.
Senator Warren also raised her concerns about the high levels of traumatic brain injuries caused by blast overpressure and the need to address the long-term effects--an initiative that has bipartisan support in both the House and Senate versions of the FY 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (FY26 NDAA). In response Vice Admiral Bradley supported DoD working with outside experts and organizations to study the long-term effects of blast overpressure.
People are more important than hardware and the critical part of those people are the intellectual capacity... We see them as a critical contract with our operators and our operators families to ensure that we keep them sustainable said Vice Admiral Bradley.
Senator Warren secured key earlier this month during the markup of the FY26 NDAA including bipartisan support for a provision requiring DoD to provide a congressional briefing on the feasibility of conducting a study on the long-term effects of blast overpressure exposure. In September 2024 Senator Warren led a on the importance of addressing these issues with leading brain health personnel at DoD and experts from Home Base a national nonprofit organization in Charlestown that treats invisible wounds of veterans service members military families and families of the fallen.
Transcript: Hearings to examine the nominations of Vice Admiral Frank M. Bradley USN to be admiral and Commander United States Special Operation Command and Lieutenant General Dagvin R.M. Anderson USAF to be general and Commander United States Africa CommandSenate Armed Services CommitteeJuly 22 2025
Senator Elizabeth Warren: Thank you Mr. Chairman and congratulations to both of you on your nominations.
So the American military is built to defeat our enemies not to create more of them and that is why Republican and Democratic administrations have worked to reduce risks to innocent civilians as part of military operations. In fact the last Trump administration issued the DoDs first instruction to establish policies to mitigate civilian harm after concerns grew about civilian casualties in the campaign against ISIS. Now one of the tools that commanders now have in the toolkit is working with civilian harm and mitigation response advisors from refining war games to real attack planning in the Middle East and Africa operations and more.
Vice Admiral Bradley your predecessor at Special Operations Command recently said that these experts assisted commanders and their staffs in mitigating civilian harm without compromising lethality. Whats more their knowledge enhanced precision preserving legitimacy and enabling mission success.
So Vice Admiral Bradley if you are confirmed will you commit to keeping civilian harm prevention experts at SOCOM to advise you and your team?
Vice Admiral Frank M. Bradley: Senator first just to resonate it is not only an obligation to adhere to the law of armed conflict to protect civilians. It is critical to our success and competition to represent our values. I believe that every uniform every civilian and every contractor that is employed or in oversight of the use of lethal force has a critical obligation to be able to do that and I do commit to keeping that as a focus for our command if confirmed.
Senator Warren: Thank you. That is a strong answer and I appreciate it. You know other tools in the toolkit here are the civilian harm mitigation and response action plan and DOD policy instruction on civilian harm which outline DoD plans and policies to reduce civilian harm risks. AFRICOM has made progress in implementing these policies including through training allies and partners on how to reduce risks to innocent civilians. We are s
