CRS examines cluster munitions report

A new Congressional Research Service report looks at the Pentagon's new policy regarding cluster munitions.

Inside Defense reported earlier this month that the Pentagon had determined the U.S. military would keep its stockpiles of cluster munitions beyond an impending deadline to divest of such weaponry, citing how removal of the munitions would create "a critical capability gap for our forces."

The Dec. 15 CRS report notes that in 2008, DOD issued a policy meant to "reduce the failure rate of cluster munitions to 1 percent or less after 2018."

In a statement, Defense Department spokesman Tom Crosson said DOD believes cluster munitions "remain a vital military capability in the tougher warfighting environment ahead of us, while still a relatively safe one." As a result, the Pentagon will indefinitely delay a policy banning the use of cluster munitions due to take effect on Jan. 1, 2019, according to a Nov. 30 memo signed by Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan. The development was first reported by Reuters.

"This was a hard choice, not one the department made lightly," Crosson said last month. "But ultimately, it was clear to DOD's senior leadership that removing use of current stocks would have created a critical capability gap for our forces, risking much greater military and civilian casualties in a conflict, and weakening our ability to deter potential adversaries."

CRS states that potential issues for Congress "include cluster munitions in an era of precision weapons, other weapons in lieu of cluster munitions, and the potential impact of DOD's 2017 revised cluster munitions policy."