Table & Figures
Recommended Reading
Footnotes
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the United States is in a position of military dominance, both in terms of its ability to project power abroad and wage conventional war.1 To maintain this military advantage, the U.S. has spent annually between $332 and $527 billion annually since the end of the Cold War.2 The end of the Soviet military threat gave rise to hope of a "peace dividend" and to political efforts both to reduce the defense budget and redirect spending from the military to domestic social programs, but the American defense budget never fell below 85% of the highest Cold War levels achieved during the Reagan buildup in the late 1980s. The U.S. accounts for nearly half the world's military expenditure, outspending on defense the next fourteen largest military powers combined.3
The events of September 11th and subsequent War on Terror shifted serious debate about the size of the American military budget from "how much should it be reduced?" to "how much should it be increased?" Without much contention in the academic or public sphere, the answer to the latter question seems to be "quite a lot." The Bush administration's defense budget for fiscal year 2009 (FY09) requests $514.4 billion to fund the peacetime costs of the Department of Defense (DoD). In addition, the administration requests $70 billion for expenses related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (or the "Global War on Terror").4 Additional funding beyond this $70 billion will almost certainly be required to cover war-related costs for the full year.
Whether the US military
buildup since 9/11 will continue will depend on the decisions of the
next administration and Congress. Given the U.S. national debt,
as well as the need to meet the coming demands on Social Security and
Medicare, the defense budget is likely to decrease remain constant in
the coming decades. The he ability of the American military to
meet future challenges is likely have as much to do with how wisely
the U.S. spends on defense priorities as the absolute levels of defense
spending
I. FY09 Budget Request
- President Bush's FY 2009
budget requests $515.4 billion in discretionary authority for the DoD,
which is an increase of $35.0 billion or 7.5 percent over funding for
FY 2008. The Administration also requests an additional
$70 billion for the costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan or (the
"Global War or Terror," or GWOT). Additional funding beyond this
$70 billion will almost certainly be required to cover war-related costs
for the full year. For more information on the FY 2009 budget request
see Fiscal Year 2009 Department of Defense Budget Release, Feb. 4, 2008, http://www.defenselink.mil
/comptroller/defbudget/fy2009 ./2009_Budget_Rollout_Release .pdf -
FY 2009 Bush administration's Requested Budget for Defense:
Click to enlarge
Source: DoD, Fiscal Year 2009 Budget Request, Briefing Slides, Feb. 4, 2008, http://www.defenselink.mil
/comptroller/defbudget/fy2009 /Summary_Docs/FY2009_Budget _Slides.pdf
II. Breakdown of FY09 Defense Budget Request
Table 1:
Breakdown of FY 2009 Defense Budget Request by Category, Service and
New Initiatives
 |
Click to enlarge Source: DoD FY 2009 Budget Request
Summary Justification, Feb. 4, 2008, http://www.defenselink.mil |
- Breakdown of Budget Request by Functional Category:
Figure 1: FY 2009 Budget
by Category
 |
Click to enlarge Source: DoD FY 2009 Budget Request
Summary Justification, Feb. 4, 2008, http://www.defenselink.mil |
III. FY 2009 Defense Budget Priorities
The top four priorities of defense planners are increase ground capabilities, improve force readiness, develop future combat capabilities, and improve quality of life.
FY 2009 Budget Increases for Departmental Priorities:
Figure 2: Budget Increases for
Departmental Priorities
 |
Click to enlarge Source: DoD,
Fiscal Year 2009 Budget Request, Briefing Slides, Feb. 4, 2008, http://www.defenselink.mil |
A. Increase Ground Capabilities
Figure 3: Increase Ground Capabilities
 |
Click to enlarge Source:
DoD, Fiscal Year 2009 Budget Request, Briefing Slides, Feb. 4, 2008, http://www.defenselink.mil |
B. Improve Force Readiness
Figure 4: Improve Force Readiness
 |
Click to enlarge Source:
DoD, Fiscal Year 2009 Budget Request, Briefing Slides, Feb. 4, 2008, http://www.defenselink.mil |
C. Develop Future Combat Capabilities
Figure 5: Develop Future Combat
Capabilities
 |
Click to enlarge Source:
DoD, Fiscal Year 2009 Budget Request, Briefing Slides, Feb. 4, 2008, http://www.defenselink.mil |
D. Improve Quality of Life
Figure 6: Improve Quality of Life
 |
Click to enlarge Source:
DoD, Fiscal Year 2009 Budget Request, Briefing Slides, Feb. 4, 2008, http://www.defenselink.mil |
IV. DoD Budget Authority since 1948
Figure 7: DoD Budget Authority,
1947-2008
 |
Click to enlarge Source: Office of the Under Secretary
of Defense (Comptroller), National Defense Budget Estimates for FY
2008 (Green Book), March 2007, Table 6.9. |
V. Defense Spending as a Percentage of the Total Federal Budget and Percentage of GDP Over Time
Figure 8: Defense Spending as
a Percentage of Total Federal Outlays and as a Percentage of GDP, 1948-2008
 |
Click to enlarge Source: Historical Tables, Budget
of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2008, Table 3.1,
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb |
VI. Spending by Title Over Time
|
Click to enlarge Source: Office of the Under Secretary
of Defense (Comptroller), National Defense Budget Estimates for FY
2008 (Green Book/), March 2007, available at http://www.defenselink.mil |
VII. U.S. Military Expenditures vs. the World
Figure 9: Top 15 Military Spenders
in the World, 2006
 |
Click to enlarge Source: Stockholm International
Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), SIPRI Yearbook 2007: Armaments, Disarmament
and International Security (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006),
Appendix 8A See also http://www.sipri.org/contents |
VIII. U.S. spending on Iraq and
Afghanistan
|
Click to enlarge Source: Amy Belasco, The Cost of Iraq,
Afghanistan, and Other Global War on Terror Operations Since 9/11, CRS
Report (February 8, 2008). Available at http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs |
Recommended Reading
BACK TO TOP
- Holding the Line: U.S. Defense Alternatives for the Early 21st Century, Cindy Williams (ed.) (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2001).
- The Changing Dynamics of U.S. Defense Spending, Leon Sigal (ed.) (London: Praeger, 1999).
- The Long-Term Implications
of Current Defense Plans, breaks down spending nicely in a variety of
ways, provides numerous interesting graphs and figures on military spending: http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs
/70xx/doc7004/01-06-DPRDetailed Update.pdf - National Priorities Project
(Amherst, Mass.) has figures on spending and compares them with other
budgetary needs: http://costofwar.com/numbers
.html . Similarly, see the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (Washington, D.C.) for a broader gauge of military spending within the budget process: http://www.cbpp.org/pubs/fedbud.htm - Congress and Defense Spending: The Distributive Politics of Military Procurement (Congressional Studies Series, V. 3) by Barry S. Rundquist and Thomas M. Carsey, eds., (University of Oklahoma Press, 2002)
Footnotes
BACK TO TOP
Office
of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller), National Defense
Budget Estimates for FY 2008 (Green Book/), March 2007, available
at http://www.defenselink.mil
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), SIPRI Yearbook 2007: Armaments, Disarmament and International Security (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), Appendix 8A.
SIPRI Military Expenditure Database, http://www.sipri.org/contents
Fiscal Year 2009 Department of
Defense Budget Release, Feb. 4, 2008, http://www.defenselink.mil
