Cost of National Security

Try using Cost of National Security with our Trade-Offs tool. Curious about these counters? Visit our notes & sources page.

Our counters show the costs of the United States’ wars since September 11, 2001. Counters reflect costs estimated by the Costs of War project at Brown University.

Last updated September 3, 2021.

Costs of the War on Terror since 2001

Care for Veterans of the War on Terror

Cost To:

$3,905,184,773,341

Homeland Security Costs of War

Cost To:

$1,180,625,114,593

Interest on War Debt

Cost To:

$1,250,607,437,525

Military Costs of War on Terror

Cost To:

$3,109,220,461,824

State Department in War on Terror

Cost To:

$247,575,502,323

Total Cost of War on Terror

Cost To:

$9,693,213,289,608

Trade-Offs: What else could these dollars buy?

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Why are these numbers different from the numbers in our Trade-Offs tool?

The numbers in Trade-Offs are projected total costs for a federal program in a given year. The numbers in the Cost of National Security counters are changing in real time to show how much has been spent on a program this year to date.