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Last Updated: May 28, 2015
What counts as national security depends on your perspective. Some people consider wars overseas to be national security.
Others consider the U.S. military, fighter aircraft, and the American nuclear weapon stockpile to be national security.
Some people consider giving weapons to other
countries to be national 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.
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.
Does our budget reflect your priorities?
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.