State of Insecurity: The Cost of Militarization Since 9/11The following excerpts are from a report produced by the Institute for Policy Studies. The Pentagon budget is higher than at the height of the Vietnam War or the Cold War, and growing, accounting for more than half of the federal discretionary budget in typical years. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) formed in 2003 [has become] a mammoth new government agency. The formation of DHS also marked the creation of the now-infamous Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which have drawn attention for terrorizing immigrant communities, suppressing protests, and tearing children from their parents. At a time when awareness of police brutality and militarization has skyrocketed, militarism has reached new heights in two other long-standing wars: the war on crime and the war on drugs. Over 20 years, the U.S. has spent more than $21 trillion on militarization, surveillance, and repression -- all in the name of security. But the COVID-19 pandemic, the January 6 Capitol insurrection, wildfires raging in the West, and even the fall of Afghanistan have shown us that these investments cannot buy us safety. Twenty years after 9/11, the response has contributed to thoroughly militarized foreign and domestic policies at a cost of $21 trillion over the last two decades. Of the $21 trillion the U.S. has spent on foreign and domestic militarization since 9/11, $16 trillion went to the military (including $7.2 trillion for military contractors), $3 trillion to veterans' programs, $949 billion to Homeland Security, and $732 billion to federal law enforcement. U.S. Militarized
Spending Over 20 Years, (FY 2002 - FY 2021) We include the cost of veterans' benefits because military service and military activities give rise to the need for these benefits. We include most programs in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) because of the agency's origins in the post-9/11 response.... Although the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is situated within DHS, we exclude it from this analysis. Federal law enforcement programs are included because counterterrorism and border security are part of their core mission, and because the militarization of police and the proliferation of mass incarceration both owe much to the activities and influences of federal law enforcement. Federal law enforcement agencies use the same militarized tactics to combat terrorism, crime, and narcotics, with frequently violent and racially inequitable results. Federal law enforcement agencies like the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Agency, and U.S. Marshals operate both in and outside of the U.S., frequently cooperating with the Department of Defense (DoD). Unless otherwise noted, all figures in this report are based on Office of Management and Budget (OMB) budget authority data and are inflation-adjusted to FY 2021. According to the Department of Justice (DoJ), 88 per cent of its budget goes toward counterterrorism, border security and violent crime goals, while 12 per cent goes toward its goal of promoting the rule of law and good government. Over the span of 20 years, the War on Terror has expanded to dozens of countries, claimed 900,000 lives, and has cost trillions of dollars. Beyond the forever wars, the U.S. military has more than 750 outposts in around 80 countries, with about 220,000 U.S. troops stationed permanently abroad as of June 2021. Military operations extend well beyond the confines of the War on Terror, and in some cases, actions billed as military exercises have been fronts for real military operations. As part of its supposed shift from the War on Terror to "great power competition," the military is looking to reinvest in nuclear weapons.... The U.S. has far more nuclear weapons than any other country, and far more than can be justified based on theories of nuclear deterrence. The U.S. also has the distinction of being the only country to use a nuclear weapon on human beings -- which it has done twice. The danger of these weapons far outstrips rationales for their continued deployment. Yet the military has planned a $1.5 trillion renewal program to keep U.S. nuclear weapons in service. Recently, the U.S. military has also been active within U.S. borders, with deployments to the southern border, where 3,000 troops remain today in a surveillance role. Some states have also sent National Guard troops to the border. From 2016-17, National Guard soldiers were deployed to suppress Indigenous-led protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, and in June 2020 were called into Washington, DC, to suppress Black Lives Matter protests. National Guard troops also stepped in after the Capitol insurrection on January 6, 2021. Altogether, military expenditures over the last 20 years totalled more than $16 trillion, including the budget for the DoD, nuclear weapons and activities, and certain intelligence and military retirement costs. We also include aid to foreign militaries, and much smaller civil defense expenses including the selective service, military cemeteries, and others.
Note*: CIA and Intelligence costs here are far from complete. The total appropriated for national and military intelligence in FY 2020 alone was $85.8 billion. Most of that is likely hidden in the military budget, but not identifiable through public documents. The calculus of 9/11 led to runaway growth in military spending. From FY 2001 to FY 2002 (the fiscal year that began on October 1, 2001), military spending increased by 5.8 per cent. By the following year, FY 2003, military spending had increased by 30 per cent over FY 2001 levels. It would eventually peak at nearly a trillion dollars in 2010 before falling moderately due to budget sequestration, and then rising again. Today, military spending is higher than at the height of the Vietnam War, the Cold War, the Korean War, and the first Gulf War. Forever WarsThe U.S. invaded Afghanistan in 2001, followed by Iraq in 2003. These occupations represent the longest active occupations in U.S. history -- the forever wars. Even as U.S. troops are exiting Afghanistan, the War on Terror continues in multiple countries, taking different forms. The costs of the global War on Terror have been staggering: about 900,000 lives lost to violence, many thousands more gone due to the loss of critical infrastructure like hospitals, and 37 million people displaced, according to Brown University's Costs of War project. In 2019, pro-government airstrikes (including U.S. airstrikes) killed the highest number of Afghan civilians in any year since the start of the war. In Afghanistan alone, 47,000 civilians have been killed since the start of the War on Terror. A study from Brown University's Costs of War project has estimated total War on Terror costs at $8 trillion through 2021, including $800 billion in non-war DoD spending increases from 2001 to 2020 that were attributable to the War on Terror. From 2002 to 2019, about $127 billion in aid to foreign militaries went to the two main targets of U.S. occupation: Afghanistan ($91 billion) and Iraq ($36 billion). From 2018 to 2020, the U.S. conducted counterterror operations in 85 countries, including combat operations in 12 countries, and air and drone strikes in seven. This represents more than half the countries on earth. The Pentagon and Military AidSpending on the DoD totalled $14 trillion over the last 20 years, including $1.9 trillion in funds appropriated specifically for wars through the Overseas Contingency Operations fund. Even though in recent years the fund was increasingly used for routine military expenses (or "base requirements"), this total falls short of estimating the true costs of the War on Terror. More than 70 per cent of the Pentagon's $14 trillion in spending over the last 20 years was for operations, purchasing and research and development. Operations and maintenance ($5.7 trillion) includes costs for operating, deploying, and maintaining weapons systems, including the military's nearly 300 ships and more than 13,000 aircraft, and facilities, as well as training and other costs. Procurement ($2.8 trillion) includes the purchases and upgrades of major weapons systems such as ships and aircraft, as well as land vehicles, missiles, and ammunition. Just $3.3 trillion, or 23 per cent of the total, went to compensation for military personnel. Entry-level pay for an enlisted service member in 2021 was just over $20,000, the equivalent of a $10.30 hourly wage. Service members also receive housing or a housing allowance, but that isn't designed to cover the full cost of housing. The three biggest recipients of foreign military assistance, Afghanistan ($91 billion), Israel ($57 billion), and Iraq ($36 billion) accounted for nearly 70 per cent of all military assistance. But the U.S. gave military aid to the majority of countries on earth during the years of 2002-2019. Military ContractsIn a typical year, around half of the DoD budget goes to contractors. Over the last 20 years, the contractors took in more than $7.2 trillion in DoD funds, compared to only $4.7 trillion in the 20 years before that, which included the peak years of the Cold War and nuclear arms race. In FY 2020, with a total DoD budget of $753 billion, $422 billion went to military contractors. The top Pentagon contractors bring in more in one year than many government agencies. In FY 2020 alone, Lockheed Martin took in more than $75 billion in DoD contracts. By comparison, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) budget was only $16 billion in 2020, including emergency COVID funding. The War on Terror has been a huge profit generator for these companies. Stocks in the top five defense companies that were worth $10,000 when the War on Terror began are worth nearly $100,000 today, versus only $61,000 for the overall stock market. Military Equipment and the PoliceThe Pentagon provides military equipment to state and local law enforcement agencies through its 1033 program. Today, state and local law enforcement agencies are in possession of $1.83 billion worth of military equipment transferred since 9/11, including mine resistant vehicles, aircraft, drones, military weapons, and ammunition. DoD also transfers equipment to federal agencies including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice (DoJ). Military equipment transfers skyrocketed (in 2012), peaking at $386 million in 2014. Today, transfers are still far higher than they were early in the War on Terror, totalling $152 million in 2020 and $101 million in just the first half of 2021. This equipment is used by local police for SWAT raids, which are often used indiscriminately, most often for suspected drug crimes, and disproportionately targeting people of colour. In one incident, a Georgia toddler was critically injured when a SWAT team's flash-bang grenade landed in his playpen. Military equipment has also appeared as part of police responses to protest, notably during the uprisings against police killings in the summer of 2020 and previously. Indigenous people are the racialized group most likely to be killed in confrontations with police. VeteransThe services that the U.S. provides to military veterans have totalled $3 trillion over the last 20 years. Of course, these services are provided to veterans of many wars, not just the wars on terror. There are 19 million veterans in the U.S., 14 million of whom served during wartime, and 3.5 million of whom served during the global War on Terror. Veterans of the War on Terror have been subject to nonstop deployments over the last 20 years, taking a toll on physical and mental health, family stability, and civilian career opportunities. Veterans suffer from high risks of suicide, homelessness, and family violence, among other long-lasting consequences of serving in U.S. wars. The Costs of War project at Brown University has estimated that future costs to care for veterans of the War on Terror alone will total $1 trillion through FY 2059. Veterans'
Programs, FY 2002 - FY 2021 Homeland SecurityThe
formation of the Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) has been
characterized as "the largest, most important
restructuring of the
federal government since the end of World War II."
The creation of DHS
in 2003 rolled all or part of 22 different federal
departments and
agencies into a single department. The Federal
Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA), the Transportation Security
Administration (TSA), the
Coast Guard, the Secret Service, immigration
agencies, and others were
all brought under DHS. ICE, Customs and Border ProtectionCustoms and Border Protection (CBP), the agency tasked with borders and customs enforcement includes the Border Patrol, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the agency tasked with punitive immigration law enforcement, such as immigrant detention and deportation operations. Together they accounted for more than $392 billion over the last 20 years -- nearly half of DHS's spending (excluding FEMA). Almost every year, Congress approves massive funding increases to these agencies that profile, jail, and deport immigrants. Combined spending on ICE and CBP was more than six times greater than the $64 billion spent on Citizenship and Naturalization Services since FY 2002. Over the span of 20 years, spending on ICE and CBP more than doubled, from $12 billion in FY 2002 to more than $25 billion in FY 2021. During that period, spending on ICE and CBP was more than twice the funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (even accounting for pandemic spending in 2020 and 2021), and four times the funding for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, even as the opioid crisis became a matter of national concern, causing more than 49,000 deaths in 2019. CBP, which includes the Border Patrol, is among the largest law enforcement organizations in the world. Even as the number of migrants crossing the southern border has decreased, the number of border patrol agents has grown alongside CBP's swelling budget. With just over 10,000 agents in FY 2002, by FY 2020 the Border Patrol had more than 19,000 agents. Contributing to the militarized ethos of Border Patrol policing, nearly one-third of CBP agents are military veterans. There have been at least 177 fatal encounters with CBP since 2010. Despite this violent history of misconduct, little to no oversight or accountability measures have been put in place to hold the agency accountable for excessive, deadly use of force and abuse of power. The United States maintains the world's largest immigration detention system, which has ballooned in recent decades. Every year, hundreds of thousands of immigrants are locked up in over 200 ICE detention centers, where they often face abusive conditions while they await determination of their immigration status. A majority of these detention facilities are operated by private, for-profit companies. Immigrant detention has grown in recent decades alongside the mass incarceration of non-immigrant Black and Brown communities in the United States. In fact, local, state, and federal police often coordinate with ICE and CBP, creating pipelines between criminal punishment and immigration enforcement systems. Despite mass protests and its prominence as an issue in the presidential campaign, the number of immigrants held in detention more than doubled under the Biden administration since the end of February 2021. The Border WallIn recent years, the notorious border wall became emblematic of the militarization of the United States' southern border region. Under the Trump administration, taxpayers spent a whopping $16.3 billion on border wall construction -- including nearly $10 billion that the administration diverted from the military budget. The Biden administration pledged not to build "another foot of wall" and has characterized its support for border surveillance and technology funding as a gentler alternative to Trump's border wall. But high tech surveillance systems, known as "smart borders" or "virtual walls," don't represent the softer approach their proponents claim. Surveillance technologies are environmentally destructive, threaten privacy and civil liberties, and can lead to more migrant deaths as individuals are funnelled into more dangerous routes. Far from "humane," these technologies only perpetuate militarization and mass surveillance in the borderlands and beyond. Federal Law EnforcementThe Department of Homeland Security (DHS)'s militarized approach to the border is echoed internally by federal law enforcement's activities as part of the war on immigrants, the war on drugs, and the war on crime. Federal law enforcement activities have led to violent police tactics, indiscriminate surveillance practices, racial profiling and racist outcomes, and mass incarceration. According to a 2018 report to the U.S. Sentencing Commission, 34 per cent of federal sentences were for immigration offenses, marking the federal prosecution system as a key component of the war on immigrants. Another 28 per cent of sentences were for drug crimes. Federal arrests were also dominated by immigration offenses, which made up 56 per cent of all federal arrests in FY 2018. Just 1.9 per cent of federal arrests were for violent offenses. Black and Latinx people bear the brunt of federal law enforcement. Hispanic people were the subjects of 54 per cent of federal sentences in 2018, and Black people another 20 per cent. Black people make up 38 per cent of the federal prison inmates, far greater than their share of the population. The recent uprisings in response to the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and others have brought the nation's police forces under close examination. While local police have received the lion's share of scrutiny for violent tactics, recent investigations have found that U.S. Marshals are more likely to use their guns compared to local police. Yet the Department of Justice (DoJ) has refused to publicly release information on Marshal-involved shootings that major police departments are obligated to publish. Federal law enforcement also hands down its tactics to local police. The FBI both trains chief executive officers for local police departments, and develops a firearms training curriculum for police officers. Most federal law enforcement activities are overseen by the DoJ, whose four strategic goals are to 1) "enhance national security and counter the threat of terrorism;" 2) "secure the borders and enhance immigration enforcement and adjudication;" 3) "reduce violent crime and promote public safety;" and 4) "promote rule of law, integrity, and good government." According to the Department of Justice, 88 per cent of its budget goes toward the first three goals: counterterrorism, border security and violent crime. Agencies like the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and the U.S. Marshals have long been at the forefront of the wars on crime and drugs, and have played an increasingly large role in the war on immigrants. Federal prosecutors (U.S. Attorneys) and federal prisons carry out aggressive prosecutions and harsh prison sentences. These agencies do not just operate inside the U.S. The FBI has more than 90 offices overseas, and nearly half of its spending ($84 billion) over the past 20 years was considered defense-related. Likewise, the DEA has 91 overseas offices in 68 countries, the U.S. Marshals have three foreign field offices, and ATF has at least eight foreign offices. Federal law enforcement's foreign exploits have often been associated with local violence. In 2012, DEA agents in Honduras were involved in an incident in which four civilians were killed, including two pregnant women and a child. DEA agents left the scene without aiding the killed and injured civilians. They subsequently attempted to cover up their role to Congress. In Haiti, a former DEA informant was one of the suspects arrested in the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.
The War on TerrorWith major expansions of a number of bureaus following the passing of the Patriot Act and the Protect America Act during the Bush administration, the DoJ claimed a mandate for "unrelenting focus and unprecedented cooperation" in service of counterterrorism -- claiming to protect civil liberties while in fact violating them through aggressive law enforcement tactics and expansion of surveillance powers. Even prior to 9/11, federal law enforcement agencies like the DEA had for decades collected information on all U.S. phone calls to 116 countries. Post-9/11, the surveillance of ordinary citizens exploded, giving law enforcement access to phone records for tens of millions of Americans. The FBI has monitored political and religious groups exercising their First Amendment rights, including the anti-war Quakers. In the aftermath of the January 6, 2021 attempted insurrection, the DoJ is now seeking new powers in the name of combating domestic terrorism, raising concerns of an expanded surveillance and security state that targets even more sectors of the population -- without meaningfully curtailing terrorist attacks. Meanwhile, a number of purported foiled terrorist plots have been revealed as cases of entrapment, diverting law enforcement resources from pursuing real threats and instead coaxing vulnerable individuals into participating in plans manufactured by FBI agents. Some analysts have concluded that the nature of the FBI's counterterrorism strategies seems to create "terrorists" out of ordinary citizens -- certainly not the purpose for which funds were legislated. An investigation by The Intercept found that of the almost 1,000 prosecutions for terrorism-related offenses since 2001, many of whom were caught in FBI sting operations, the majority had never committed a violent crime, did not have the means or opportunity to commit acts of violence, and had no direct connections to terrorist organizations. The War on ImmigrantsMore than half of all federal arrests, and more than one-third of all federal sentences, have been for immigration crimes in recent years. The five districts that handed out the most federal sentences were all in border states: two in Texas, one in Arizona, one in New Mexico, and one in Southern California. More than 40 per cent of sentences were for non-citizens, almost all convicted of immigration offenses. While ICE and CBP round up immigrants, it is the DoJ that prosecutes immigration cases. Federal law enforcement agencies including the FBI, DEA, ATF, and U.S. Marshals Service all formally collaborate with ICE and CBP. Federal law enforcement's early approach to the War on Terror provided some of the opening shots in the war on immigrants. In the year after the 9/11 attacks, the Bush administration created a program administered by DoJ called the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS), which registered non-citizen visa holders, and disproportionately targeted Arab and Muslim people. The program was widely regarded as a failure at leading to terrorism convictions, and was suspended during the Obama administration. In 2017, the Trump administration revived an open policy of targeting Muslims with a travel ban from seven Muslim-majority nations, a decision defended by the Trump Justice Department. Racial and Ethnic ProfilingThe targeting of Muslims has not been limited to immigration, and Muslims have not been the only group targeted. An ACLU report found that a Michigan FBI office initiated an effort to collect information on all Muslims and people of Middle Eastern descent in Michigan, without any evidence of criminality by individuals or groups. These FBI tactics both alienate many Muslim Americans from the government and feed systematic negative views of Muslims, that have contributed to xenophobia and ongoing immigration restrictions. The same report noted an effort by the FBI office in Knoxville, Tennessee to map mosques; an FBI effort in Atlanta, Georgia to track overall Black population growth in pursuit of "Black Separatist" groups; and plans to monitor entire Chinese communities in San Francisco for organized crime. None of these efforts were tied to specific evidence or crimes. Rather, they were based primarily on race, ethnicity, or religion. Racist patterns of surveillance and harassment are also reflected in arrests and prison sentences. In the 10 years before 2019, 179 people were arrested in reverse-sting incidents (often considered entrapment) by the DEA's Southern District of New York. Not a single one of them was white. Mass IncarcerationThe war on drugs is a major driver of mass incarceration. In federal prisons, more than 67,000 people, accounting for nearly half the federally incarcerated population, are serving time for drug charges. Federal policy and spending have been drivers of mass incarceration at the local and state levels as well. In 1986, the Anti-Drug Abuse Act enshrined the now-infamous imposition of harsh mandatory minimum sentences for crack cocaine. The passage of the 1994 crime bill created new federal funding streams that encouraged states to pass "tough on crime" sentencing laws and to build more prisons. Many of these programs are still active today. Federal prison funding has increased by more than 11 times since 1976, exploding from $901 million in 1976 to $10 billion in 2021. During that time, the number of people incarcerated in federal prisons increased ninefold, from 24,000 in 1980 to more than 219,000 by 2013, though the number has been steadily declining since. Over the past 20 years, the federal prison system has cost $146 billion, and federal prison funding has increased by 23 per cent, despite the recent downturn in the number of federal prisoners. The report Cost of Militarization is available here.
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