After 9/11: The Staggering Economic and Human Cost of the War on Terror

SECRECY NEWS:Post-9/11 Costs of War Exceed $1.5 Trillion

Posted on Aug.29, 2018 in budget, Dept of Defense by Steven Aftergood

“Since September 11, 2001, the Department of Defense (DoD) has obligated $1,500.8 billion for war-related costs.”

That’s the headline from the latest report to Congress on the post-9/11 costs of war, according to the Pentagon’s own reckoning. (Thanks again to Steven Aftergood)

See Cost of War Update as of March 31, 2018 (FY 2018, Quarter 2).

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PLEASE NOTE: Independent estimates of military spending that use a broader definition of the term yield a considerably higher total.

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The new DoD report provides a detailed retrospective account of post-9/11 military spending, broken down by theater (Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria), by fiscal year, and by military service. A copy was obtained by Secrecy News.

The fraction of war-related funds that were appropriated to DoD in the post-9/11 period for classified purposes totaled $88 billion, the report said.

The 76-page DoD report itself exemplifies a certain financial profligacy, with a price tag that is orders of magnitude higher than one might have supposed. “The cost to the Department of Defense to prepare and assemble this report is approximately $209,000 for FY 2018,” the document states.

https://fas.org/blogs/secrecy/2018/08/dod-costs-of-war/