Trump administration rolls back Obama-era prohibition of land mines
WASHINGTON — The White House reversed the Obama administration’s prohibition on the use of anti-personnel land mines outside the Korean Peninsula on Friday, saying the restrictions could place American forces at a severe disadvantage during a conflict.
White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham, who announced the policy change, said in a statement that the new policy would authorize high-level U.S. military commanders, in exceptional circumstances, to employ land mines that are specifically designed to reduce harm to civilians and partner forces.
The reversal is the latest example of the new leeway the Pentagon has won during the Trump administration to control operations or employ previously restricted weapons.
The administration has reintroduced low-yield nuclear weapons and once again developed previously banned intermediate-range missiles, in addition to giving commanders more authority on the battlefield to order strikes.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper said land mines are an “important tool” in ensuring mission success and reducing risks to U.S. forces. He noted that the change in policy was prompted by a review that former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis ordered in 2017, when the U.S. military put together a new national defense strategy focused on “great power competition” with Russia and China.
Advocacy groups and top
Democrats have hit out at the land mine decision, which they say rolls back crucial progress the Obama administration made in reducing the global use of land mines, which are known to have an outsize impact on civilians during and after armed conflicts.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who led the congressional charge against land mines during the Obama administration, called the decision “as perplexing as it is disappointing, and reflexive, and unwise,” and said it overturned 30 years of steps, taken by both Democratic and Republican administrations, toward fully banning them.
The Pentagon did not make a convincing case at the time of the ban that prohibiting land mine use put the military at a disadvantage, he said.