Steps Taken To Prevent Harm to Civilians

Ninety-nine percent of all bomblets deployed from cluster bombs must explode on impact by 2018, under a July 9 Defense Department directive aimed at reducing civilian deaths and injuries, and harm to non-military infrastructures. The ruling, approved by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, comes as nearly 400 civilians died from the weapons in 2006 according to State Department statistics. To meet the deadline, the armed services will begin conducting inventories of existing cluster-bomb stockpiles, to determine which weapons comply with the new standards.