Excerpt / Summary The war cost counters running on the Cost of National Security homepage include all of the funding that has been appropriated by Congress for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through fiscal year 2014. These numbers reflect the allocation of $92.3 billion in January 2014 as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014.
War Costs to Date Total War Funding: To date, $1.57 trillion has been allocated to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, including $92.3 billion in fiscal year 2014. Iraq: To date, $815.8 billion has been allocated for the war in Iraq since 2003, including $3.2 billion in fiscal year 2014. Afghanistan: To date, $753.3 billion has been allocated for the war in Afghanistan since 2001, including $89.1 billion in fiscal year 2014. Military Action Against ISIS: The military conflict with ISIS started on June 16, 2014. So far, funds for the conflict have come from war funding allocated for Iraq and/ or Afghanistan, and are included in spending on those conflicts. These totals are based on appropriations that provide funding through the end of fiscal year 2014. These figures include both military and non-military spending, such as reconstruction. Spending includes only incremental costs – those additional funds that are expended due to the war. For example, soldiers' regular pay is not included, but combat pay is included. Potential future costs, such as future medical care for soldiers and veterans wounded in the war, are not included. These figures also do not include interest payments on the national debt that will result from higher deficits due to war spending.
Total war funding, and costs of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, are based on analysis of legislation in which Congress has allocated money for war, as well as research by the Congressional Research Service. Cost of military action against ISIS is based on news reports of Pentagon cost estimates.
Annualized Costs of War in Iraq and Afghanistan
Methodology Cost of Military Action Against ISIS The cost of military action against ISIS is so far included in the cost of wars against Iraq and Afghanistan, and the total cost of wars since 2001.
The estimate of the cost of military action against ISIS is based on news reports of average daily cost estimates for the conflict provided by Pentagon sources as follows:
The Pentagon estimated that costs averaged $7.5 million a day during the summer of 2014, and said that the conflict had started on June 16, 2014. Source: http://www.reuters.com... Pentagon sources reported on October 27, 2014 that during an intensified period of airstrikes from August 8 through October 16, costs ran higher at $8.3 million per day. Source: http://thehill.com/pol... While the Pentagon has not provided an estimate for the period since October 16, returning to the previously cited $7.5 million per day assumes that activity has returned to pre-August 8 levels. The counter was last updated to reflect these estimates on Monday, November 10, 2014.
Costs of War in Iraq and Afghanistan The funds allocated to the war efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq in fiscal year 2014 are found in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014 that was signed by the president on Jan. 17, 2014, and became Public Law 113-76. The Consolidated Appropriations Act allocates war funding under the name of Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) appropriations to the Department of Defense (DoD), the Department of State, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Department of Defense For fiscal 2014, OCO funding to the DoD totaled $85.1 billion. Of that total, $209 million from U.S. Air Force Operations & Maintenance accounts is authorized to be spent in Iraq for the purpose of funding the Office of Security Cooperation in order to provide training and related assistance to Iraqi security forces. National Priorities Project allocated the remaining $84.958 billion to the war effort in Afghanistan. While only $6.2 billion of that total is explicitly attached to Afghanistan, National Priorities Project has determined that all remaining OCO funds not explicitly designated for another country should be allocated to Afghanistan, given that no other major contingency operations are ongoing.
Department of State Department of State OCO funding totaled $6.9 billion for fiscal year 2014. Of that total, National Priorities Project determined that $4.1 billion funded State Department operations in Afghanistan while $2.7 billion funded such operations in Iraq. According to the legislative language in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014, the majority of these State Department OCO funds were not designated toward any country-specific effort. To provide accurate accounting of these undesignated funds, the more detailed Department of State Congressional Budget Justification for fiscal year 2014 was analyzed to determine what percentages of the total OCO requests were related to Iraq and Afghanistan, respectively. On the premise that State Department priorities for fiscal year 2014 operations remained constant between the time that passed between its budget request and appropriations, these percentages were applied to the total OCO funds appropriated to the State Department in order to derive country-specific totals for efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. In addition, the January 2014 Congressional Research Service report State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs: FY2014 Budget and Appropriations was used a resource. Finally, given that U.S. war-related efforts in Pakistan are an extension of the war in Afghanistan, National Priorities Project considered funds allocated towards Pakistan by the State Department to be part of war costs associated with Afghanistan.
Department of Homeland Security Department of Homeland Security OCO funding totaled $227 million in fiscal 2014. These funds were designated for U.S. Coast Guard contingency operations. While these funds were not designated for any country-specific purpose, National Priorities Project counted them towards efforts in Iraq, which unlike Afghanistan maintains maritime borders. |