Budgeting for Foreign Affairs and Defense

National security is broader than defense. It involves all of the tools of statecraft, including the billions of dollars spent every year through the State Department, the US Agency for International Development, other international affairs agencies and our intelligence agencies. There is scarcely a national security issue that does not involved all of these tools, be it the proliferation of nuclear weapons, multinational peacekeeping, post-conflict resolution, counter-terrorism operations, the promotion of democracy and good governance, the complex dilemmas of development and the global economy, the challenge of infectious diseases and global health, the protection of the environment, or international crime and narcotics trafficking.

 

The defense budget has grown significantly since 2001, from $335 billion to more than $700 billion proposed for FY 2009. While foreign affairs spending has grown from $20 billion to just under $40 billion, it is still one seventeenth the size of the defense budget. Today, the Department of Defense spends as much on healthcare as the entire State Department budget.

 

In 2008, its first year, the Budgeting for Foreign Affairs and Defense program will provide independent analysis and practical solutions for US national security budget challenges; seeking to capture the synergies of the entire national security toolkit.

 

The program welcomes inquiries, comments and collaboration. For more information, please send an e-mail to dglaudemans@stimson.org.

 

Pictures on the home page provided by 1) Department of Defense 2) SoldiersMediaCenter 3)James Dale10 courtesy of Flickr 4) Department of State 5) Department of Defense

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