The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Global War on Terror Operations Since 9/11

Amy Belasco
Specialist in U.S. Defense Policy and Budget

With the December 2009 enactment of the FY2010 Defense Appropriations Act (H.R. 3326/P.L. 111- 118) and the FY2010 Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 3288/P.L. 111-117), Congress has approved a total of $1.086 trillion for military operations, base security, reconstruction, foreign aid, embassy costs, and veterans' health care for the three operations initiated since the 9/11 attacks: Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) Afghanistan and other counter terror operations; Operation Noble Eagle (ONE), providing enhanced security at military bases; and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF).

Of this $1.086 trillion total, CRS estimates that Iraq will receive about $748 billion (69%), OEF about $304 billion (28%) and enhanced base security about $29 billion (3%), with about $5 billion that CRS cannot allocate (1%). About 94% of the funds are for DOD, 5% for foreign aid programs and embassy operations, and 1% for medical care for veterans.

As of April, 2010, more than halfway through FY2010, monthly spending, or obligations for contracts and military and civilian pay, averaged $10.9 billion, including $5.4 billion for Iraq and $5.5 billion for Afghanistan. While this year's average to date is 11% below last year's $12.3 billion average, average spending may grow as troop levels rise to 98,000 in Afghanistan and fall to 50,000 in Iraq because higher costs in Afghanistan may more than offset decreases in Iraq.

Congress is currently considering the FY2010 Supplemental request for an additional $36.6 billion for DOD and the State Department, largely to cover the cost of deploying 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan that President Obama announced on December 1, 2009. Most recently, the House adopted an amended version on June 30th and the Senate passed its version on May 27th, 2010. Instead of a formal conference, the Senate is expected to revise the House version and send it back to the House, in a "ping pong" process, sometime in July.

If the pending FY2010 supplemental request is enacted, cumulative war costs would total $1.1 trillion including $751 billion for Iraq, $336 billion for Afghanistan, and $29 billion for enhanced security. By FY2010, Afghanistan would account for about two-thirds of the cost and Iraq one-third, a reversal of the previous year.

The Administration requested $171 billion in both FY2010 and FY2011 while average troop strength for both wars is due to fall from 185,000 to 145,000, a 20% drop. Average strength in Iraq would fall from 100,000 in FY2010 to 43,000 in FY2011 while strength in Afghanistan would grow from 84,000 in FY2010 to 98,000 in FY2011. The final withdrawal from Iraq is slated to be complete by December 2011, the end of the first quarter of FY2012, as required by the U.S.-Iraq Security Agreement.

If both the Administration's FY2010 Supplemental and FY2011 war request are enacted, total war related funding would reach almost $1.3 trillion, including $802 billion for Iraq, $455 billion for Afghanistan, $29 billion for enhanced security, and $6 billion that cannot be allocated. Of this cumulative total, 62% would be for Iraq, 35% for Afghanistan, and 2% for enhanced security.

In a January 2010 update, the Congressional Budget Office projected that additional war costs for FY2012-FY2020 could range from $274 billion if troop levels fell to 30,000 by early 2013 to $588 billion if troop levels fell to 60,000 by about 2015. Under these CBO projections, funding for Iraq, Afghanistan and the Global War on Terror could total from about $1.56 trillion to about $1.88 trillion for FY2001-FY2020 depending on the scenario. .


Date of Report: July 16, 2010
Number of Pages: 53
Order Number: RL33110
Price: $29.95


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Navy DDG-51 and DDG-1000 Destroyer Programs: Background and Issues for Congress

Ronald O'Rourke
Specialist in Naval Affairs

The FY2010 budget that the Navy submitted to Congress last year proposed ending procurement of Zumwalt (DDG-1000) class destroyers at three ships and resuming procurement of Arleigh Burke (DDG-51) class Aegis destroyers. Congress, as part of its action on the FY2010 defense budget, supported this proposal: the FY2010 budget funded the procurement of one DDG-51 (the first to be procured since FY2005), provided advance procurement funding for two DDG-51s the Navy wants to procure in FY2011, completed the procurement funding for the third DDG-1000 (which was authorized but only partially funded in FY2009), and provided no funding for procuring additional DDG-1000s.

The Navy's FY2011 budget submission calls for procuring two DDG-51s in FY2011 and six more in FY2012-FY2015. The two DDG-51s that the Navy wants to procure in FY2011 received $577.2 million in FY2010 advance procurement funding. The Navy's proposed FY2011 budget requests another $2,922.2 million in procurement funding for the two ships, so as to complete their estimated combined procurement cost of $3,499.2 million. The Navy's proposed FY2011 budget also requests $48.0 million in advance procurement funding for the one DDG-51 that the Navy wants to procure in FY2012, and $186.3 million in procurement funding for DDG-1000 program-completion costs.

The Navy's FY2011 budget also proposes terminating the Navy's planned CG(X) cruiser program as unaffordable. Rather than starting to procure CG(X)s around FY2017, as the Navy had previously envisaged, the Navy is proposing to build an improved version of the DDG-51, called the Flight III version, starting in FY2016. Navy plans thus call for procuring the current version of the DDG-51, called the Flight IIA version, in FY2010-FY2015, followed by procurement of Flight III DDG-51s starting in FY2016. Navy plans call for procuring 24 Flight III DDG-51s between FY2016 and FY2031. Flight III DDG-51s are to carry a smaller version of the new Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) that was to be carried by the CG(X). The Navy's proposed FY2011 budget requests $228.4 million in research and development funding for the AMDR. Detailed design work on the Flight III DDG-51 reportedly is to begin in FY2012 or FY2013.

FY2011 issues for Congress include the following:

• whether to approve, reject, or modify the Navy's proposal to develop the Flight III DDG-51 design and start procuring it in FY2016;

• the potential impact on the DDG-1000 program of DOD's determination that the program has experienced a critical cost breach under the Nunn-McCurdy provision;

• whether to use multiyear procurement (MYP) for Flight IIA DDG-51s that the Navy wants to procure in FY2011-FY2015; and

• whether to approve, reject, or modify the Navy's FY2011 funding request for procurement of Flight IIA DDG-51s, for DDG-1000 program-completion costs, and for research and development on the AMDR. 


Date of Report: July 26, 2010
Number of Pages: 36
Order Number: RL32109
Price: $29.95


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Reserve Component Personnel Issues: Questions and Answers

Lawrence Kapp
Specialist in Military Manpower Policy

The term "Reserve Component" is used to refer collectively to the seven individual reserve components of the armed forces: the Army National Guard of the United States, the Army Reserve, the Navy Reserve, the Marine Corps Reserve, the Air National Guard of the United States, the Air Force Reserve, and the Coast Guard Reserve. The purpose of these seven reserve components, as codified in law at 10 U.S.C. 10102, is to "provide trained units and qualified persons available for active duty in the armed forces, in time of war or national emergency, and at such other times as the national security may require, to fill the needs of the armed forces whenever more units and persons are needed than are in the regular components."

During the cold war era, the reserve components were a manpower pool that was rarely tapped. For example, from 1945 to 1989, reservists were involuntarily activated by the federal government only four times, an average of less than once per decade. Since the end of the cold war, however, the nation has relied more heavily on the reserve components. Since 1990, reservists have been involuntarily activated by the federal government six times, an average of once every three years, including two large-scale mobilizations: for the Persian Gulf War (1990- 91) and in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks (2001-present). This increasing use of the reserves has led to greater congressional interest in various issues that bear on the vitality of the reserve components, such as funding, equipment, and personnel policy. This report is designed to provide an overview of key reserve component personnel issues.

This report provides insight to reserve component personnel issues through a series of questions and answers: how many people are in different categories of the reserve component (question 3); how reserve component personnel are organized (questions 2 and 4); how reserve component personnel have been and may be used (questions 1, 5, 6, 7, 9, and 11); how reserve component personnel are compensated (questions 8 and 10); the type of legal protections that exist for reserve component personnel (question 12); and recent changes in reserve component pay and benefits made by Congress (question 13).


Date of Report: July 20, 2010
Number of Pages: 34
Order Number: RL30802
Price: $29.95


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Veterans Medical Care: FY2011 Appropriations

Sidath Viranga Panangala
Specialist in Veterans Policy

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) provides benefits to veterans who meet certain eligibility criteria. Benefits to veterans range from disability compensation and pensions to hospital and medical care. The VA provides these benefits through three major operating units: the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), and the National Cemetery Administration (NCA).

This report focuses on the VHA. The VHA is primarily a direct service provider of primary care, specialized care, and related medical and social support services to veterans through the nation's largest integrated health care system. Veterans generally must enroll in the VA health care system to receive medical care. Eligibility for enrollment is based primarily on previous military service, disability, and income. VA provides free inpatient and outpatient medical care to veterans for service-connected conditions and to low-income veterans for nonservice-connected conditions.

The Obama Administration released its FY2011 budget on February 1, 2010. The President requests an overall funding amount of $48.8 billion for VHA for FY2011, an increase of $3.7 billion over the enacted amount in FY2010. Furthermore, as required by P.L. 111-81, the Administration is requesting $50.6 billion in advance appropriations for FY2012 for the three medical care appropriations: medical services, medical support and compliance, and medical facilities. In FY2012, the administration's budget request would provide $39.6 billion for the medical services account, $5.5 billion for medical support and compliance account, and $5.4 billion for the medical facilities account.

On July 15, 2010, the Senate Committee on Appropriations marked up its version of the MILCON-VA Appropriations bill for FY2011(S. 3615; S.Rept. 111-226). The Senate Appropriations Committee version of the bill provides $48.9 billion for VHA for FY2011. This amount includes $48.1 billion authorized in FY2010, an additional $120 million for the medical services and medical facilities accounts, and $590 million for the medical and medical and prosthetic research account. The Senate Appropriations Committee recommended amount is thus $120 million more than the President's request for VHA for FY2011. S. 3615 also provides a advance appropriations of $50.6 billion for medical services, medical support and compliance, and medical facilities accounts to be available in FY2012.

On July 20, 2010, the House Committee on Appropriations marked up its version of the FY2011 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations bill (MILCONVA Appropriations bill for FY2011, H.R. 5822; H.Rept. 111-559). The House Appropriations Committee provides a total of $48.8 billion for the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) for FY2011, which includes 48.1 billion authorized in the FY2010 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (P.L. 111-117) and $590 million for the medical and medical and prosthetic research account. H.R. 5822 provides advance appropriations of $50.6 billion for medical services, medical support and compliance, and medical facilities accounts to be available in FY2012. This is the same as the Administration's request and 5.0% above the FY2011 total amount for the same three accounts.


Date of Report: July 27, 2010
Number of Pages: 42
Order Number: R41343
Price: $29.95


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Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies: FY2011 Appropriations

Daniel H. Else
Specialist in National Defense

Christine Scott
Specialist in Social Policy

Sidath Viranga Panangala
Specialist in Veterans Policy

The Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies appropriations bill provides funding for the planning, design, construction, alteration, and improvement of facilities used by active and reserve military components worldwide. It capitalizes military family housing and the U.S. share of the NATO Security Investment Program, and finances the implementation of installation closures and realignments. It underwrites veterans benefit and health care programs administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs, provides for the creation and maintenance of U.S. cemeteries and battlefield monuments within the United States and abroad, and supports the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, Armed Forces Retirement Homes, and Arlington National Cemetery. The bill also funds construction supporting military operations overseas (known as Overseas Contingency Operations, or OCO), a function previously carried out through emergency supplemental appropriations, and advance appropriations for veterans medical services.

President Barack Obama submitted his request to Congress for Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 appropriations on February 1, 2010. For the appropriations accounts included in this bill, his request totaled $191.7 billion in new budget authority, divided into four major categories: Title I (military construction and family housing) at $18.7 billion; Title II (veterans affairs) at $171.4 billion; Title III (related agencies) at $283.8 million; and Title IV (a new category of funding for construction in support of active military operations overseas) at $1.3 billion. All told, the request comprised $20.0 billion in Department of Defense (DOD), $171.4 billion in veterans affairs, and $283.8 million in other agency funding. Of the total, $76.0 billion (39.6%) would be discretionary appropriations, with the remainder considered mandatory.

Simultaneously, the President requested an emergency supplemental appropriation for FY2010 that contained $521.4 million for Army and Air Force construction in Afghanistan.

The military construction funding amounts requested by the President and recommended by the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations have fallen off as building for the 2005 Defense Base Closure and Realignment (BRAC) round has nearly reached completion. Funding support for military family housing construction has also declined as the military departments (Army, Navy, and Air Force) continue their efforts to privatize formerly government-owned accommodations.

In the area of non-medical benefits, the largest dollar increases in funding for the VA between FY2010 and FY2011 in the Administration request, the House Appropriations Committee recommendation (H.R. 5822) and the Senate Appropriations Committee recommendation (S. 3615) are for disability compensation and pension benefits, and readjustment benefits, where the largest component is for education benefits.

The appropriations subcommittees in both chambers reported their versions of the bill (S. 3615) on July 14, 2010. The Senate introduced S. 3615 and placed it on the Legislative Calendar (Calendar No. 469) on July 19. The House introduced H.R. 5822 on July 22 and placed it on the Union Calendar (Calendar No. 320).


Date of Report: July 28, 2010
Number of Pages: 27
Order Number: R41345
Price: $29.95



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