[CPEO-MEF] MUNITIONS, GLOBAL: State Department "Demining" Funds Frozen

[Lenny Siegel]

After War, Leftover Bombs Kill. Trump Froze Funding for Cleaning Them Up. Some “demining” groups have already been forced to suspend operations. 

By SOPHIE HURWITZ
Mother Jones
February 5, 2025

On January 25, the State Department office that funds the clearance of unexploded bombs, land mines, and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) sent an email to its staff announcing that funding would be on hold, effective immediately. The freeze on federal funding would last for “90 days” as a review took place. 

But there is a problem with suddenly defunding landmine and bomb clearance programs: It means more people could step on unexploded weapons and die. 

Most years, the United States spends millions of dollars cleaning up explosives left behind by previous wars. A large portion of those explosives are manufactured in the United States. A recent State Department report claims that this country spends more than any other on cleaning up the explosive remnants of war. But under Trump, that money is now on hold. And it is not clear when, or if, it will be back. 


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For the entire article, see
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/02/trump-us-aid-frozen-demining-bombs-marco-rubio-state-department/

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Lenny Siegel
Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
A project of the Pacific Studies Center
LSiegel at cpeo.org
P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042
Voice/Fax: 650-961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org
Author: DISTURBING THE WAR: The Inside Story of the Movement to Get Stanford University out of Southeast Asia - 1965–1975 (See http://a3mreunion.org)