MODIFICATION OF RESPONSIBILITY FOR POLICY ON CIVILIAN CASUALTY MATTERS.

SEC. 1282. MODIFICATION OF RESPONSIBILITY FOR POLICY ON CIVILIAN CASUALTY MATTERS. Section 936 of the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 (Public Law 115-232; 10 U.S.C. 134 note) is amended— (1) in subsection (b)— (A) in paragraph (3), by inserting “appropriate to the specific regional circumstances” after “publicly available means”; (B) in paragraph (5)— (i) in subparagraph (A), by inserting “, including for acknowledging the status of any individuals killed or injured who were believed to be enemy combatants, but subsequently determined to be non-combatants” after “operations”; and (ii) in subparagraph (B)— (I) by inserting “or other assistance” after “payments”; and (II) by striking “necessary” and inserting “reasonable and culturally appropriate”; and (C) in paragraph (7), by striking “and” at the end; (D) by redesignating paragraph (8) as paragraph (9); and (E) by inserting after paragraph (7) the following: “(8) cultivating, developing, retaining, and disseminating— “(A) lessons learned for integrating civilian protection into operational planning and identifying the proximate cause or causes of civilian casualties; and “(B) practices developed to prevent, mitigate, or respond to such casualties;” ; (2) by redesignating subsection (c) as subsection (d); (3) by inserting after subsection (b) the following: “(c) Coordination.—The senior civilian official designated under subsection (a) shall develop and implement steps to increase coordination with the relevant Chiefs of Mission and other appropriate positions in the Department of State with respect to the policies required pursuant to subsection (a) and other matters or assistance related to civilian harm, resulting from military operations.” ; and (4) by inserting after subsection (d), as so redesignated, the following: “(e) Briefing.—Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this subsection, the senior civilian official designated under subsection (a) shall provide to the congressional defense committees a briefing on— “(1) the updates made to the policy developed by the senior civilian official pursuant to this section; and “(2) the efforts of the Department to implement such updates.” .