Summary

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

GAO-08-1128R  September 15, 2008

Full Report (PDF, 11 pages)   

Since 2001, Congress has provided the Department of Defense (DOD) with about $807 billion in supplemental and annual appropriations, as of September 2008, primarily for military operations in support of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT). DOD's reported annual obligations 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. 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. DOD's 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. DOD compiles and reports monthly and cumulative incremental obligations incurred to support GWOT in a monthly Supplemental and Cost of War Execution Report. DOD leadership uses this report, along with other information, to advise Congress on the costs of the war and to formulate future GWOT budget requests. DOD reports these obligations by appropriation, contingency operation, and military service or defense agency. The monthly cost reports are typically compiled within the 45 days after the end of the reporting month in which the obligations are incurred. DOD has prepared monthly reports on the obligations incurred for its involvement in GWOT since fiscal year 2001. Section 1221 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006 requires us to submit quarterly updates to Congress on the costs of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom based on DOD's monthly Supplemental and Cost of War Execution Reports. This report, which responds to this requirement, contains our analysis of DOD's reported obligations for military operations in support of GWOT through June 2008. Specifically, we assessed (1) DOD's cumulative appropriations and reported obligations for military operations in support of GWOT and (2) DOD's fiscal year 2008 reported obligations from October 2007 through June 2008, the latest data available for GWOT by military service and appropriation account.

As of September 2008, Congress has appropriated a total of about $807 billion primarily for GWOT operations since 2001. Of that amount, about $187 billion has been provided for fiscal year 2008 and about $65.9 billion has been appropriated for use in fiscal year 2009. DOD will likely request additional funds for fiscal year 2009. DOD has reported obligations of about $594.9 billion for military operations in support of the war from fiscal year 2001 through fiscal year 2007 and fiscal year 2008 (October 2007 through June 2008). The $212.1 billion difference between DOD's appropriations and reported obligations can generally be attributed to certain fiscal year 2008 appropriations; multiyear funding for procurement, military construction, and research, development, test, and evaluation from previous GWOT-related appropriations that have yet to be obligated; and obligations for classified and other items, which DOD considers to be non-GWOT related, that are not reported in DOD's cost-of-war reports. This difference also includes the $65.9 billion appropriated for fiscal year 2009. As part of our ongoing work, we are reviewing DOD's rationale for reporting its GWOT related obligations.

Subject Terms

Accountability
Appropriated funds
Appropriation accounts
Budget obligations
Cost analysis
Cost effectiveness analysis
Cost of war
Counterterrorism
Data integrity
Defense appropriations
Defense budgets
Defense capabilities
Defense cost control
Defense economic analysis
Funds management
Future budget projections
Military forces
Military operations
National defense operations
Reporting requirements
Statistical data
Strategic planning
Terrorism
Warfare
DOD Operation Iraqi Freedom
DOD Operation Noble Eagle
Global War on Terrorism
Operation Enduring Freedom