Wolfowitz: terrorism war requires $12.6 billion supplemental this year InsideDefense.com
February 27, 2002Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said today that DOD will need $12.6 billion in supplemental funding before the end of fiscal year 2002 "just to cover the cost of war" on terrorism.
Defense officials have been warning for months that funds previously appropriated would not be enough to continue the war on terrorism at current levels. The cost of war continues to rise as operations continue and new, one-time expenses arise.
Operations Enduring Freedom and Noble Eagle cost the United States $10.3 billion by the end of January, Wolfowitz told a congressional panel. The cost of the war is expected to top $30 billion by the end of the fiscal year, he added -- $12.6 billion more than what is available.
According to Steven Kosiak, budget director for the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, DOD has been paying for war and related expenses with a pool of $17.5 billion. This money is part of the original $40 billion supplemental appropriations package passed last year in response to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon Sept. 11.
Wolfowitz told the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee that the cost of homeland defense improvements, combat air patrols and the battle against al Qaeda and Taliban forces in Afghanistan reached $10.3 billion by the end of January, a total somewhat higher than previous DOD estimates.
Early this month, a senior defense official told reporters that Noble Eagle and Enduring Freedom cost the United States about $1.8 billion a month, and the war in Afghanistan did not begin until Oct. 7. But costs are showing a "geometric progression," the official said at the time, adding that supplemental funding would be needed because resources were "running out fast."
The larger total stems in part from non-recurring expenses. Included in Wolfowitz's total was roughly $2.9 billion spent on "immediate security improvements" put in place after the terrorist attacks, he said. That leaves $7.4 billion as the direct costs of Noble Eagle and Enduring Freedom through January.
Of that total, Wolfowitz said, "I would guess that roughly $6 billion is devoted to Afghanistan," where the U.S. currently has about 5,000 servicemen and women on the ground.
-- Adam J. Hebert