Top Ten "Security Spending" Numbers (You Need to Know)

Here’s a list of numbers you ought to know about the U.S. military, but probably don’t.

$1.26 Trillion – Total amount appropriated by Congress for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through the end of Fiscal Year 2011 (September 30, 2011) – $797.3 billion for Iraq and $459.8 billion for Afghanistan. See NPP's "Cost of War" Counters.

$7.6 Trillion – The total amount spent on “security” by the U.S. government since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 (through the end of Fiscal Year 2011). See NPP's analysis "U.S. Security Spending Since 9/11."

96 Percent – The percentage increase in “Security” discretionary spending (Defense Department, weapons activities of the Department of Energy, homeland security, international affairs and veterans affairs) from FY2000 to FY2011.
Versus 39 Percent – The percentage increase of “non-security” discretionary spending over the same period. (Note: both figures are based on inflation-adjusted “real” increases in spending.) Source: National Priorities Project

301 Percent – The increase in annual funding for "Homeland Security" since 9/11. Annual spending rose from $16 billion in FY2001 to $69.1 billion in FY2011 (adjusted for inflation). See NPP's analysis "U.S. Security Spending Since 9/11."

$235.6 Billion – The increase in the Pentagon’s annual “Base” budget (not including war costs or the nuclear weapons activities of the Department of Energy) from FY2000 to FY2011. The Pentagon’s annual budget rose from $290.5 billion to $526.1 billion (in constant FY 2012 dollars), a real increase of 43 percent. See NPP's analysis "U.S. Security Spending Since 9/11."

$6.6 Billion – The increase in the Department of Energy’s budget for nuclear weapons activities over the same period. DoE’s weapons budget rose from $12.4 billion to $19.0 billion (in constant FY 2012 dollars), a real increase of 21 percent. See NPP's analysis "U.S. Security Spending Since 9/11" 

39 Percent – The percentage of interest on the national debt related to past military spending. Net interest on the national debt for Fiscal Year 2011 is estimated at $207 billion, of which past military spending would account for roughly $80 billion. Source: National Priorities Project

65 Percent – The percentage of total global military spending accounted for by the United States (42%) and our NATO allies (23%) NOTE: this doesn’t include our other allies – Japan, South Korea, Israel….Source: The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) "Military Expenditure Database." 

12 to 1 – The ratio of “offensive” security spending in the U.S. federal budget, compared to the amount spent on “preventive” security. Source: “A Unified Security Budget for the United States, FY 2012,” by the Institute for Policy Studies' Foreign Policy in Focus.

52 Percent – The percentage of U.S. war veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan who have been treated by the VA. As of December 2010, 1.25 million service men and women had returned home from Iraq and Afghanistan. To date, 650,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have been treated in Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical facilities at a cost of $32.6 billion. Source: Watson Institute at Brown University’s "Costs of War" analysis.