Cost of National Security

Welcome Cost of War Visitors

Thanks for visiting National Priorities Project's Cost of War page. You are being redirected to Cost of National Security, our new resource showing the Cost of War in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as spending for the Department of Defense, Homeland Security, Nuclear Weapons, and Foreign Military Assistance.

If you have any questions or need assistance locating Cost of War information, please do not hesitate to contact us at info@nationalpriorities.org or 413-584-9556.

Try using Cost of National Security with our Trade-Offs tool. Curious about these counters? Visit our notes & sources page.

Last Updated: May 28, 2015

War Counters

What counts as national security depends on your perspective. Some people consider wars overseas to be national security.

Cost of Military Action Against ISIS

Cost To:

$5,921,627,104

Cost of Pentagon Slush Fund

Cost To:

$99,143,401,770

Cost of War in Afghanistan

Cost To:

$712,725,604,392

Cost of War in Iraq

Cost To:

$818,762,350,919


Total Cost of Wars Since 2001

Cost To:

$1,638,211,831,726

Trade-Offs: What else could these dollars buy?

Military and Weapons

Others consider the U.S. military, fighter aircraft, and the American nuclear weapon stockpile to be national security.

Department of Defense in 2015

Cost To:

$475,691,377,217

F-35 Joint Strike Fighter in 2015

Cost To:

$7,746,223,658

Nuclear Weapons in 2015

Cost To:

$18,120,966,576

Predator and Reaper Drones in 2015

Cost To:

$959,804,936

Trade-Offs: What else could these dollars buy?

Weapons Support

Some people consider giving weapons to other
countries to be national security.


Foreign Military Assistance in 2015

Cost To:

$11,725,718,968

Trade-Offs: What else could these dollars buy?

Homeland Security

After Sept. 11, 2001, we created the Department of Homeland Security and poured hundreds of billions of dollars into it, and some people consider that to be national security.


Homeland Security Since 9/11

Cost To:

$641,982,950,618

Trade-Offs: What else could these dollars buy?

Other

Others think of national security as having enough to eat, a place to live, plus health care, clean air to breathe and water to drink,
and access to an education.

Education in 2015

Cost To:

$96,270,459,275

Environment in 2015

Cost To:

$24,382,528,748

Foreign Aid in 2015

Cost To:

$24,201,770,977

Housing Assistance in 2015

Cost To:

$40,245,906,076

Medicaid and CHIP in 2015

Cost To:

$336,409,982,831

Nutrition Assistance in 2015

Cost To:

$104,876,223,795

Trade-Offs: What else could these dollars buy?

Does our budget reflect your priorities?

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Why are these numbers different from the numbers in our Trade-Offs tool?

The numbers in Trade-Offs are projected total costs for a federal program in a given year. The numbers in the Cost of National Security counters are changing in real time to show how much has been spent on a program this year to date.