Global War on Terrorism: Reported Obligations for the Department of Defense

Since 2001, Congress has provided the Department of Defense DOD with hundreds of billions of dollars in supplemental and annual appropriations for military operations in support of the Global War on Terrorism GWOT.1 DODs reported annual obligations2 for GWOT have shown a steady increase from about 0.2 billion in fiscal year 2001 to about 139.8 billion in fiscal year 2007. To continue GWOT operations, the President requested 189.3 billion in appropriations for DOD in fiscal year 2008. As of May 2008, Congress has provided DOD with about 86.8 billion of this request, including 16.8 billion for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles. Congress has not finalized action on the remaining 102.5 billion. In addition, the President also requested about 66 billion in appropriations for DOD in fiscal year 2009 for GWOT, which was submitted along with DODs annual budget request. The United States commitments to GWOT will likely involve the continued investment of significant resources, requiring decision makers to consider difficult trade-offs as the nation faces an increasing long-range fiscal challenge. The magnitude of future costs will depend on several direct and indirect cost variables and, in some cases, decisions that have not yet been made. DODs future costs will likely be affected by the pace and duration of operations, the types of facilities needed to support troops overseas, redeployment plans, and the amount of equipment to be repaired or replaced.3