National Security

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"National Priorities Project has long been a vital resource for advocacy and organizing by our members. In August 2007, on the eve of key congressional votes on the Iraq war, nearly 5,000 MoveOn members participated in over 160 events around the country highlighting the war’s true cost to local communities. We relied on National Priorities Project’s data to produce customized local reports on “the war at home”—and without NPP, we couldn’t have done it. We thank NPP for the service they provide day in and day out to their partners in the progressive movement."

- Justin Ruben, Executive Director

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American taxpayers expect the federal government to provide national security. Achieving that security is a constant and complicated challenge that cannot be met by military might alone. A sound national security policy involves three broad strategies:

preventive measures such as securing nuclear materials abroad and participating in multi-lateral diplomatic and peacekeeping operations;
homeland security such as providing port security and coordinating emergency first responders; and
the military

Currently, federal spending on these three strategies is heavily weighted toward military operations. In fiscal year 2005, as shown in the graph, almost nine dollars was spent on the military for every dollar spent on all other non-military security tools combined.

In order to better understand how our tax dollars are spent within and beyond our borders, this section of our website offers a wealth of information about spending on the three strategies outlined above as well as related topics.

You can click on a map to find out where our dollars go around the world, view graphs to see spending comparisons between the U.S. and other countries, or find out how much homeland security spending goes to your state. You can also read short briefs in the making connections section to learn more about national security terms and their definitions, or read more about an alternative national security proposal that would create better and more cost-effective security.


Military and Conflict Maps U.S. military bases and troops U.S. military aid U.S. arms sales Graphs Top arms exporters Top arms importers U.S. military spending World military spending				Preventive Measures Maps U.S. economic aid UN peacekeeping contributors Graphs Top aid donors and U.S. Top U.S. aid recipients International affairs budget International affairs in context
General Maps GDP per capita Foreign debt service as % of GDP Proved oil reserves Graphs Energy consumption per capita Energy conservation spending				Homeland Security Maps Homeland security spending by state Homeland security spending per capita Graphs/Other Homeland security spending What is homeland security?