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United States of America

Ten-Year Summary

The United States of America has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. The Clinton administration set the objective of joining in 2006. However, the Bush administration announced in 2004 that the US would not accede. US law has prohibited all antipersonnel mine exports since 23 October 1992 and in December 2007, the export moratorium was extended until 2014. The US has not used antipersonnel mines since 1991, nor produced them since 1997. In 2008, the Pentagon abandoned plans to produce a weapon that would have been prohibited by the Mine Ban Treaty. In 2002, the US cancelled a program to combine existing antipersonnel and antivehicle mines into a “mixed” system. US antipersonnel mines stockpiled in Italy, Norway, and Spain were removed to comply with the Mine Ban Treaty obligations of those countries.

Between 1999 and 2008, Landmine Monitor identified 207 mine/explosive remnants of war (ERW) casualties who were US nationals (80 killed and 127 injured) from media reports and official US Department of Defense casualty reports. Comprehensive victim assistance services, including rehabilitation services and disability pensions, are provided to soldiers injured while on active duty, although cumbersome bureaucratic procedures have delayed a declaration of status that would allow for discharge from the military or resulted in a delay in receiving disability payments.

The United States has contributed at least $796.8 million in support of mine action between 1999 and 2008. Funds are directed to mine action via the US Department of State and the Patrick J. Leahy War Victims Fund, as well as to research and development via the US Department of Defense.

Mine Ban Policy

The US has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. The US participated in the Ottawa Process that created the treaty, but the Clinton administration decided at the last moment against signing and instead set 2006 as the objective for the US to join. In February 2004, the Bush administration reversed course and announced that it did not ever intend to accede.

According to its policy announced in February 2004, the US can use any type of landmine (antipersonnel or antivehicle) that self-destructs and self-deactivates for the indefinite future and without any geographic restrictions.[1]

The policy also allows the US to use non-self-destructing (sometimes called “dumb” or “persistent”) antipersonnel mines, but only in Korea and only until the end of 2010. The US can use non-self-destructing antivehicle mines without geographic restriction, but only with presidential authorization, and only until the end of 2010.[2]

On 2 December 2008, the US abstained from voting on UN General Assembly Resolution 63/42 calling for universalization and full implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty. It has abstained on each annual pro-ban treaty UNGA resolution since 1997.

In January 2009, Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton told the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, “The incoming Administration has not taken a position on the landmines treaty. We are committed to working with our friends and allies around the world to reduce the threat posed by landmines.”[3] In February 2009, US NGOs called on the Obama Administration to initiate a thorough review of US policy and to join the Mine Ban Treaty.[4]

The US last attended a Mine Ban Treaty-related meeting in June 2005. Colombian leaders and ban supporters have urged the US to attend the Second Review Conference of the Mine Ban Treaty, which opens in Cartagena on 30 November 2009.[5] According to US officials, the US is actively considering participating.[6]

The US is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons and its Amended Protocol II on landmines. It submitted an annual national report on 12 November 2008, as required under Article 13. The US ratified Protocol V on Explosive Remnants of War on 21 January 2009, the day after President Obama took office.[7]

The US has not signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[8]

Production, transfer, stockpiling, and use

In May 2008, the Vice Chief of Staff of the US Army stated that the XM-7 Spider Networked Munition would be procured in a configuration that only allowed command-detonation.[9] Previously, the Spider system contained a feature that permitted it to function in a victim-activated mode, making it incompatible with the Mine Ban Treaty.[10] This would have constituted the first production of antipersonnel mines by the US since 1997. The US Campaign to Ban Landmines had for several years strongly objected to Pentagon plans to move forward with the victim-activation feature, and the US Congress had taken steps to block a decision on full-scale production of victim-activated Spider systems.[11] A total of US$56.4 million has been allocated for procurement of 147 Spider systems in fiscal year (FY) 2010.[12]

In previous years, Landmine Monitor has reported on another landmine system being developed, the so-called Intelligent Munitions System (IMS). Pentagon budget documents once stated that the “IMS utilizes sensors linked to effects and is controlled over robust communications in either an autonomous mode or via Man-in-the-Loop control.”[13] The use of the terms “autonomous mode” and “unattended employment” appeared to be synonymous with victim-activation, and would make this system incompatible with the Mine Ban Treaty. The army had requested a total of $1.1 billion for research activities and eventual production of 1,325 IMS units between fiscal years 2006 and 2013, including $307 million for research and $792 million for production.[14]

The IMS program appears to have drastically changed both in scale and scope according to budget documents released in May 2009. The name of IMS was changed to “IMS Scorpion” and the description of the weapon, unchanged in all previous years, now says that Scorpion is “an anti-vehicular weapons system that provides highly responsive terrain-shaping and protection capabilities to the unit commander” and “Trained operators remotely control ground-emplaced munitions via a portable control station out to distances of 1.5 kilometers.” Reference in all previous years to antipersonnel effects, both lethal and non-lethal, associated with the planned capabilities of IMS were no longer present in the description of Scorpion in May 2009. The anticipated cost of the producing system and number of systems to be built were also dramatically reduced to just 49 Scorpion weapons at a cost of $19.5 million for FY 2010. This funding increment allows for the low rate of initial production of Scorpion, if the army makes the decision to proceed with it, which is now scheduled to be made in January 2010. No further funding for Scorpion was allocated in future fiscal years. Textron Systems of Wilmington, Massachusetts is the prime contractor for Scorpion [15]

Stockpiling

The US stockpiles approximately 10.4 million antipersonnel mines and 7.5 million antivehicle mines, the third largest landmine stockpile in the world after China and Russia. As of 2002, the stockpile had 1.56 million non-self-destructing landmines, including 1.16 million M14 and M16 antipersonnel mines and about 403,000 Claymore mines.

The US military stockpiles the M14 and M16 antipersonnel mines for use in any future war in Korea. US Army documents indicate about half of those mines are stored in the continental US. The US military also keeps in South Korea a substantial number of self-destructing, scatterable antipersonnel mines.[16]

The policy announcement in February 2004 also stated, “Within two years, the United States will begin the destruction of those persistent landmines that are not needed for the protection of Korea.”[17] It is not known if this has resulted in the destruction of any antipersonnel mines.

According to a November 2005 American Forces Press Service press release, the US sent 100,000 mines to Iraq to be used to initiate the explosive demolition of other captured weapons. The type of mine was not specified.[18]

On 26 December 2007, the comprehensive US moratorium on the export of antipersonnel mines was extended for six years until 2014.[19] US law has prohibited all antipersonnel mine exports since 23 October 1992, through a series of multi-year extensions of the moratorium.

US Antipersonnel Mine Stockpile[20]

Munition

Number of antipersonnel mines

Artillery Delivered Antipersonnel Mine (ADAM)

8,366,076

M14

696,800

M16

465,330

Claymore

403,096

Gator

281,822

Volcano (M87 only)

134,200

Ground Emplaced Mine Scattering System (GEMSS)

32,900

Pursuit Deterrent Munition (PDM)

15,100

Modular Pack Mine System (MOPMS)

8,824

Landmine Monitor previously reported there was uncertainty if the US planned to transfer some or all of its antipersonnel mines stockpiled in South Korea to the South Koreans as part of the termination of the War Reserve Stocks for Allies, Korea (WRSA-K) program.[21] In June 2009, the South Korean government told Landmine Monitor, “AP mines were not included in the list of items for sale or transfer in the WRSA-K negotiations, and therefore, no AP-mines were bought or obtained.”[22]

However, it is not clear what has or will be done with the US antipersonnel mines from the WRSA-K. The law ending the program states that any items remaining in the WRSA-K at the time of termination “shall be removed, disposed of, or both by the Department of Defense.”[23] Moreover, as noted above, US policy is to stop the use of non-self-destructing antipersonnel mines in Korea by the end of 2010.

According to one report, however, South Korea may still safeguard the antipersonnel mines for 10 years, without actually taking ownership over them. At an annual meeting between the South Korean Minister of Defense and US Secretary of Defense in Washington, DC on 17 October 2008, a memorandum was signed that, in addition to the stocks South Korea is acquiring from the US, would have South Korea store 89,000 tons (89 million kg) of weapons and ammunition for the US until 2018, including non-self-destructing landmines.[24]

The last known use of antipersonnel mines by the US was in the first Gulf War in 1991.[25]

Casualties

In 2008, three ERW casualties were identified on US territory; two men were injured when ordnance exploded at a metal recycling plant in Raleigh, North Carolina, on 12 February, and a man died on 18 February while restoring a Civil War-era cannonball he had found.[26] Two US national landmine casualties occurred on foreign territory: on 24 June, a male US soldier was killed by a landmine in Nangarhar, Afghanistan[27] and on 3 August another was killed in Kabul, Afghanistan.[28]

Overseas casualties continued to be identified in 2009, with three men killed and two injured, as of 31 July. On 1 January, a male US soldier was killed by a landmine in Afghanistan.[29] On 24 March, one US soldier was killed and two others injured when an ERW exploded at Camp Hansen in Okinawa, Japan.[30] On 5 April, a male US soldier was killed by a landmine in Baghdad, Iraq.[31]

Numerous other landmine/ERW/improvised explosive device (IED) incidents involving US military personnel occurred outside of the US in 2008 and 2009. In 2008, 131 US soldiers were killed by IEDs in Iraq. In the first six months of 2009 there were 29 IED fatalities.[32] Seventy-six US soldiers were killed by IEDs in Afghanistan in 2008, and 68 were killed in 2009 to 5 August.[33] However, since the US military uses the term “improvised explosive device” to describe nearly all explosive devices encountered by US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, and makes no distinction between victim-activated and command-detonated IEDs, it is impossible to determine how many of these may have been caused by weapons banned under the Mine Ban Treaty.[34]

Between 1999 and 2008, Landmine Monitor identified 207 mine/ERW casualties of US nationals (80 killed and 127 injured) from media reports and official Department of Defense casualty reports.[35] Of these, five (three killed and two injured, all from ERW in 2007 and 2008) occurred on US territory.

The total number of landmine/ERW/IED survivors in the US is not known. As of May 2008, 24% of the soldiers who had served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars (181,000 soldiers) were collecting disability benefits.[36] Many of those disabilities were likely caused by IEDs. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) was found to be the leading injury and cause of long-term disability among US forces serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. IEDs were the most common cause of TBIs among battle injuries.[37] Between September 2001 and 12 January 2009, there were 935 major limb amputations and 351 minor amputations as a result of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.[38]

Victim Assistance

The total number of mine/ERW survivors in the US is unknown, although there have been at least 127 injured casualties both within the US and overseas. Comprehensive rehabilitation services and disability pensions are provided to soldiers injured on active duty, although a narrowed definition of combat-related injuries and cumbersome bureaucratic procedures prevented or delayed some from accessing services and benefits in 2008.[39]

The US Army Amputee Patient Care Program, established in December 2001, provides individualized medical care, physical rehabilitation, and psychological support for active-duty amputees.[40] On average, amputees spend from six to 18 months in rehabilitation before returning to active duty or civilian life.[41] Social and economic reintegration support is provided by government and civil society organizations, although Survivor Corps found a lack of awareness of the challenges faced by veterans with disabilities in reintegrating into their local community.[42]

The Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) have disability compensation programs for injured service members: the amount of compensation a service member receives depends on the level of disability, years of service, and salary.[43]

Procedures to access benefits were found to be bureaucratic and confusing, which sometimes prevented access. In February 2007, problems were identified in the military’s disability evaluation system and in other administrative procedures related to care for injured soldiers.[44] As of January 2009, the Department of Defense and the DVA were still working to expand the Disability Evaluation System in order to address concerns.[45]

In 2008, the Department of Defense narrowed the scope of its definition for “combat related,” restricting it to those injured in armed conflict and eliminating injures incurred during training or other hazardous service.[46] The Disabled American Veterans organization called the move “one of the most shameful we’ve seen so far.”[47]

US law protects the rights of injured soldiers, persons with disabilities, and regulates care.[48] The Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination based on a person’s disability.[49] On 30 July 2009, the US signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities but not its Optional Protocol.

Support for Mine Action

US Mine Action Funding Fiscal Years 2007–2010 ($ million)[50]

 

FY 2007 (actual)

FY 2008 (actual)

FY 2009 (estimate)

FY 2010

(request)

Department of State (NADR)

51.04

66.94

71.0

70.64

Department of Defense (OHDACA)

5.00

5.12

5.2

5.2

International Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victims Assistance (ITF)

8.65

12.89

12.5

7.5

Department of Defense Research and Development

14.4

13.63

14.29

14.69

Global War on Terror Supplemental Funding

(for NADR and ITF)

7.0

0

0

0

Starting in FY 2009, three previously separate accounts for Nonproliferation, Anti-terrorism, Demining, and Related Programs (NADR), Humanitarian Demining (NADR-HD), International Trust Fund (NADR-ITF), and Small Arms/Light Weapons (NADR-SALW), have been combined into a single account for Conventional Weapons Destruction (NADR-CWD). The CWD program is funded through three separate NADR sub-accounts. As of May 2009, the FY 2010 request for globally-managed funds for NADR-HD was $14.8 million; the FY 2010 request for globally-managed funds for NADR-SALW was $48.9 million; and the FY 2010 request for the NADR-ITF was $7.5 million.[51]

Mine action funding by country, FY 2008

According to figures reported by the US Department of State in “To Walk the Earth in Safety 2009,” the US government spent $83.4 million in FY 2008 on humanitarian mine action programs in 32 countries and areas, in addition to $1.1 million to the Organization of American States for regional funding in the western hemisphere and $21.2 million on global or multilateral funding.[52] This is a change of less than 1% compared to reported funding in the previous fiscal year. The two largest recipients of US funding in 2008 remained Afghanistan and Iraq, receiving $17.2 million and $16 million respectively. While Benin, Burundi, Chad, Mauritania, Senegal, Thailand, and Tunisia received assistance in FY 2007, they did not receive assistance in FY 2008. Armenia, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Jordan, Liberia, Montenegro, Peru, the Philippines, and Somalia were new recipients in FY 2008.

Victim assistance funding

The Patrick J. Leahy War Victims Fund, managed by the US Agency for International Development, has been in operation in post-conflict and conflict-affected developing countries since 1989. The fund was established to provide a dedicated source of financial and technical assistance for civilian victims of war including survivors of mine and UXO incidents.[53] In FY 2008, the fund contributed an estimated total of $13.85 million, including $4.8 million to programs in Lebanon, Liberia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam, as well as $9.1 million to numerous regional and international initiatives spanning multiple countries. The estimated budget for the fund in FY 2007 was $10 million. To date, the fund has provided more than $166 million to more than 40 countries.[54]

Leahy Victim Fund, Allocations for
FY 2008[55]

Lebanon

$1,500,000

Liberia

$500,000

Philippines

$800,000

Sri Lanka

$500,000

Vietnam

$1,500,000

Multi-country

$9,050,000

Funding for victim assistance is also provided through the ITF. In calendar year 2008, $1,566,220 of Department of State mine action funds were spent on victim assistance through the ITF: $1,146,657 was allocated for victim assistance in calendar year 2007.[56]

US Funding for Mine Action, FY 2008

Afghanistan

$17,169,000

Albania

$1,951,000

Angola

$5,955,000

Armenia

$200,000

Azerbaijan

$1,480,000

Bosnia and Herzegovina

$4,855,000

Cambodia

$4,117,000

Colombia

$820,000

Croatia

$2,101,000

El Salvador

$195,000

Estonia

$347,000

Ethiopia

$173,000

Georgia

$5,515,000

Guinea-Bissau

$70,000

Iraq

$16,023,000

Jordan

$748,000

Kosovo

$150,000

Lao PDR

$3,050,000

Lebanon

$5,059,000

Liberia

$575,000

Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

$50,000

Montenegro

$20,000

Mozambique

$25,000

Peru

$200,000

Philippines

$800,000

Serbia

$800,000

Somalia

$655,000

Sri Lanka

$2,004,000

Sudan

$3,643,000

Vietnam

$4,149,000

Yemen

$500,000


[1] The new policy also states, “Landmines still have a valid and essential role protecting United States forces in military operations…. No other weapon currently exists that provides all the capabilities provided by landmines.” US Department of State, “Fact Sheet: New United States Policy on Landmines: Reducing Humanitarian Risk and Saving Lives of United States Soldiers.” 27 February 2004.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Responses to Questions for the Record Submitted to Secretary of State-designee Hillary Rodham Clinton by Sen. Robert P. Casey, Jr., Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 13 January 2009. Document provided by the office of Sen. Casey.

[4] “Letter to Obama Administration from 67 national organizations, requesting a review of U.S. policy on landmines and cluster bombs,” 10 February 2009, www.fcnl.org.

[5] On 25 February 2009, Colombia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Jaime Bermúdez personally invited US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to attend the Second Review Conference. Email from Tamar Gabelnick, Treaty Implementation Director, ICBL, 19 August 2009, citing remarks by the Colombian Vice-President Francisco Santos in Geneva on 2 March 2009, and a Colombian diplomat in Geneva on 3 March 2009. See also Adriaan Alsema, “Juanes asks Clinton support for anti-landmine campaign,” Colombia Reports, 11 June 2009, colombiareports.com.

[6] ICBL meeting with Melanie J. Khanna, Legal Adviser, US Mission to the UN in Geneva, Geneva, 28 May 2009.

[7] US Department of State, Office of the Spokesman, “U.S. Joins Four Law of War Treaties,” Media note, Washington, DC, 23 January 2009.

[8] For details on cluster munition policy and practice, see Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice, Mines Action Canada, May 2009, pp. 251–260.

[9] Marina Malenic, “Vice Chief Tells Senator Army Will Not Procure Victim-Activated Spider,” Inside the Army, Washington, DC, 26 May 2008.

[10] For more background information on Spider, see Landmine Monitor Report 2007, pp. 1,011–1,013.

[11] See Landmine Monitor Report 2007, pp. 1,011–1,012. Budget documents released in February 2007 indicated that a decade-long research and development effort, originally intended to develop alternatives to antipersonnel mines, was instead resulting in programs to produce two new landmine systems, Spider and IMS. The Pentagon requested $1.66 billion for research and production of these new systems between fiscal years 2006 and 2013 ($558 million for the Spider program and $1.1 billion for the IMS). Before the May 2008 announcement, it appeared these munitions would have a variety of ways of being initiated, both command-detonation (that is, when a soldier decides when to explode the mine, sometimes called “man-in-the-loop”) and traditional victim-activation (also called target-activation). The Pentagon made the decision to begin low-rate initial production of Spider in June 2006 and the first Spider systems were to be delivered in September 2008.

[12] Department of the Army, “Procurement of Ammunition, Committee Staff Procurement Backup Book Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 Budget Estimates,” May 2009, p. 416.

[13] Office of the Secretary of the Army (Financial Management and Comptroller), “Descriptive Summaries of the Research, Development, Test and Evaluation Army Appropriation, Budget Activity 5,” February 2007, p. 797. The same budget justification materials also noted that IMS is “capable of unattended employment” in engaging its targets.

[14] Office of the Secretary of the Army (Financial Management and Comptroller), “Descriptive Summaries of the Research, Development, Test and Evaluation Army Appropriation, Budget Activity 5,” February 2007, p. 797.

[15] All information in this paragraph is from Department of the Army, “Procurement of Ammunition, Committee Staff Procurement Backup Book Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 Budget Estimates,” May 2009, pp. 423–427.

[16] See Landmine Monitor Report 2007, p. 1,013–1,014. In 2005, the South Korean government reported that the US held 40,000 GATOR, 10,000 VOLCANO and an unknown number of MOPMS mines.

[17] US Department of State, “Fact Sheet: New United States Policy on Landmines: Reducing Humanitarian Risk and Saving Lives of United States Soldiers,” 27 February 2004.

[18] Elaine Eliah, “U.S. Contractors Work to Destroy, Recycle Munitions in Iraq,” American Forces Press Service (Baghdad), 10 November 2005.

[19] Public Law 110-161, Fiscal Year 2008 Consolidated Appropriations Act, Section 634(j), 26 December 2007, p. 487.

[20] Information provided by the US Armed Services in Spring/Summer 2002, cited in US General Accounting Office, “GAO-02-1003: MILITARY OPERATIONS: Information on U.S. use of Land Mines in the Persian Gulf War,” September 2002, Appendix I, pp. 39–43.

[21] See Landmine Monitor Report 2007, p. 1,014; and Landmine Monitor Report 2008, p. 877. Most of the US mines in South Korea were part of the more extensive WRSA-K. The WRSA-K were munitions stored in South Korea but kept under US title and control, then made available to US and South Korean forces in case of an emergency. On 30 December 2005, President George Bush signed Public Law 109-159, authorizing the sale of items in the WRSA-K to South Korea during a three-year period, after which the WRSA-K program was terminated. The law states that any items remaining in the WRSA-K at the time of termination “shall be removed, disposed of, or both by the Department of Defense.”

[22] Reply to Landmine Monitor questionnaire by the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea to the UN in New York, 9 June 2009.

[23] Public Law 109-159, Section 1 (c) (2).

[24] “Dispute on ROK-US WRSA Ammunition Agreement—Demand Renegotiation,” Tongil News, 18 December 2008; “US Guarantees ‘Immediate Assistance’ in Case of Emergency on the Korean Peninsula,” Tongil News, 18 October 2008.

[25] The US apparently did not use mines in Yugoslavia (Kosovo) in 1999, and has not used them in the conflict in Afghanistan that began in October 2001, or in the conflict in Iraq that began in March 2003. It reserved the right to use antipersonnel mines during each of these conflicts, and deployed antipersonnel mines to the region, at least in the cases of Kosovo and Iraq. The US last used mines in 1991 in Iraq and Kuwait, scattering 117,634 of them mostly from airplanes.

[26] See Landmine Monitor Report 2008, p. 1,042.

[27] US Department of Defense casualty reports, No. 536-08, 25 June 2008, www.defenselink.mil.

[28] US Department of Defense casualty reports, No. 662-08, 5 August 2008, www.defenselink.mil.

[29] Stephanie Gaskell, “As family says goodbye to Bronx marine who fell in Afghanistan, brother blames himself for loss,” Daily News (New York), 9 January 2009.

[30] Eric Talmadge, “60 years after Second World War, Okinawa still rife with bombs,” Canada East, 3 May 2009.

[31] US Department of Defense casualty reports, No. 224-09, 7 April 2009, www.defenselink.mil.

[32] “Iraq Coalition Casualty Count: IED Fatalities by Month,” icasualties.org.

[33] “Fatalities Database,” icasualties.org.

[34] Telephone interviews with military public affairs officers from the Office of the Secretary of Defense and Central Command, 10 June 2004.

[35] Eric Talmadge, “60 years after Second World War, Okinawa still rife with bombs,” Canada East, 3 May 2009; Stephanie Gaskell, “As family says goodbye to Bronx marine who fell in Afghanistan, brother blames himself for loss,” Daily News (New York), 9 January 2009; Kayleigh Karutis, “Area native earns Purple Heart in Iraq,” The Leader-Herald, 28 April 2008; US Department of Defense casualty reports; and see previous editions of Landmine Monitor.

[36] Jennifer C. Kerr, “Number of disabled veterans rising,” Seattle Times, 12 May 2008.

[37] Michael R. Galarneau, Susan I. Woodruff, Judy L. Dye, Charlene R. Mohrle, and Amber L. Wade, “Traumatic brain injury during Operation Iraqi Freedom: findings from the United States Navy–Marine Corps Combat Trauma Registry,” Journal of Neurosurgery, Volume 108, No. 5, 1 October 2008.

[38] Christian Davenport “For Army Amputee, 2 Steps Forward,” The Washington Post, 17 April 2009.

[39] US General Accountability Office, “Preliminary Observations on Efforts to Improve Care Management and Disability Evaluations of Servicemembers,” Statement of Daniel Bertoni, Director Education, Workforce, and Income Security, Department of Defense and Statement of John H. Pendleton, Acting Director Health Care, Department of Defense before the Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, House of Representatives, 27 February 2008; “Disability Evaluation Process Improved,” Military.com, 26 January 2009; and Scott Jagow, “A landmine isn’t combat-related?” National Public Radio, 18 February 2009.

[40] “U.S. Military Builds on Rich History of Amputee Care,” Military-in-Step, September 2008, www.amputee-coalition.org.

[41] Romney Andersen, Shelton Davis, Chuck Scoville, “Rehabilitation of Military Amputees: From Injury to Independence,” ORTHOPEDICS, October 2008.

[42] Survivor Corps, “The Path to Healthy Homecomings,” February 2009, p. 1, us.survivorcorps.org.

[43] Wounded Warrior Project, “A Handbook for Injured Service Members and their families.” July 2007, p. 32.

[44] Dana Priest and Anne Hull, “Soldiers Face Neglect, Frustration At Army’s Top Medical Facility,” The Washington Post, 18 February 2007, and Dana Priest and Anne Hull, “The Hotel Aftermath: Inside Mologne House, the Survivors of War Wrestle With Military Bureaucracy and Personal Demons,” The Washington Post, 19 February 2007; US General Accountability Office, “Preliminary Observations on Efforts to Improve Care Management and Disability Evaluations of Servicemembers,” Statement of Daniel Bertoni, Director Education, Workforce, and Income Security, Department of Defense and Statement of John H. Pendleton, Acting Director Health Care, Department of Defense before the Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, House of Representatives, 27 February 2008.

[45] “Disability Evaluation Process Improved,” Military.com, 26 January 2009.

[46] Ibid.

[47] Ibid.

[48] Wounded Warrior Project, “A Handbook for Injured Service Members and their families,” July 2007, p. 91.

[49] Ibid, p. 96.

[50] NADR data from US Department of State, Bureau of Resource Management, “FY 2010 Congressional Budget Justification for Foreign Operations,” 22 May 2009, p. 60; OHDACA data from Defense Security Cooperation Agency, “Overseas Humanitarian, Disaster, and Civic Aid, Defense Fiscal Year 2010 Budget Estimates,” May 2009, p. 849; FY 2007 ITF data from US Department of State, Bureau of Resource Management, “FY 2010 Congressional Budget Justification for Foreign Operations,” 29 February 2008, p. 83; FY 2008 and FY 2009 ITF from “To Walk the Earth in Safety 2009,” p. 47, provided by email from Timothy Groen, Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement, US Department of State, 18 June 2009; FY 2010 ITF data from US Department of State, Bureau of Resource Management, “FY 2010 Congressional Budget Justification for Foreign Operations,” 22 May 2009, p. 143; US Department of Defense Research and Development data from Office of the Secretary of Defense, “Research and Development Descriptive Summary, Humanitarian Demining, PE: 0603920D8Z,” February 2008, p. D-8; And Global War on Terror Supplemental Funding data from US Department of State, Bureau of Resource Management, “FY 2009 Congressional Budget Justification for Foreign Operations (Revised),” 29 February 2008, p. 83.

[51] US Department of State, Bureau of Resource Management, “FY 2010 Congressional Budget Justification for Foreign Operations,” 22 May 2009, p. 143.

[52] USG Historical Chart containing data for FY 2008, from “To Walk the Earth in Safety 2009,” Washington, DC, July 2009, pp. 43–47. US funding amounts and recipients may differ from FY 2008 budget items presented in “To Walk the Earth in Safety 2009,” according to later information provided to Landmine Monitor by the US Department of State. For details see recipient country reports in this edition of Landmine Monitor.

[53] See Landmine Monitor Report 2007, p. 1,017.

[54] USG Historical Chart containing data for FY 2008, from “To Walk the Earth in Safety 2009,” Washington, DC, July 2009, pp. 43–47.

[55] Ibid.

[56] Email from Luka Bunin, Project Manager, ITF, 28 August 2009.