According to a new Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments report, federal funding for defense, military operations, and homeland security, and related activities has risen by a total of $843 billion since September 2001 in contrast to what these areas would have received simply due to rising inflation. Of that $843 billion, some $675 billion went to defense accounts. About half the total came through emergency supplementals. CSBA estimates that operations in Iraq have received about $310 billion and in Afghanistan $85 billion.
The U.S. supports “a stronger and more capable” European defense, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said during an Oct. 22 press conference in Brussels—but that defense should not duplicate the functions and capabilities of the NATO alliance.