The Real Annual Security Budget: $1.2 Trillion

[The Straight Story]

The Real Annual Security Budget: $1.2 Trillion

The price of American security is not found in the Department of Defense budget alone. There is considerably more to the cost of keeping the U.S. secure from al-Qaeda and other threats, costs that are both direct and indirect, writes Chris Hellman, a former military analyst who now works for the National Priorities Project.

The real price tag for defending the nation is more than a trillion dollars—$1.2 trillion to be exact. Here’s how Hellman came up with this amount, using figures from the proposed 2012 federal budget for the following departments and programs:

Pentagon (including Iraq and Afghanistan wars and miscellaneous costs): $683.8 billion

Energy Department (nuclear weapons): $19.3 billion

State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development (counterterrorism activities):
$8.7 billion

(more at link)
http://www.allgov.com/Where_is_the_Money_Going/ViewNews/The_Real_Annual_Security_Budget__1_2_Trillion_Dollars_110303