Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the Department of Defense to develop an action plan to improve how it can prevent, mitigate, and respond to civilian casualties caused by U.S. airstrikes. In a two-page directive (pdf), Austin asked top civilian and military officials to provide him within 90 days a “Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response Action Plan.” The action plan would outline steps and resources required to implement recommendations that had been issued from recently-completed, Pentagon-sponsored studies of civilian harm, as well as evaluations from the DoD’s Office of the Inspector General, and independent reviews that Austin had directed into strikes that led to civilian casualties. “The protection of innocent civilians in the conduct of our operations remains vital to the ultimate success of our operations and as a significant strategic and moral imperative,” Austin said in the memo. The move comes after a botched drone airstrike on Aug. 29 in …