Cost of National Security

Welcome Cost of War Visitors

Thanks for visiting National Priorities Project's Cost of War page. You are being redirected to Cost of National Security, our new resource showing the Cost of War in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as spending for the Department of Defense, Homeland Security, Nuclear Weapons, and Foreign Military Assistance.

If you have any questions or need assistance locating Cost of War information, please do not hesitate to contact us at info@nationalpriorities.org or 413-584-9556.

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:

$4,017,418,274,359

Homeland Security Costs of War

Cost To:

$1,186,383,022,218

Interest on War Debt

Cost To:

$1,265,413,485,705

Military Costs of War on Terror

Cost To:

$3,120,462,090,998

State Department in War on Terror

Cost To:

$252,876,433,153

Total Cost of War on Terror

Cost To:

$9,842,553,306,436

Trade-Offs: What else could these dollars buy?

Does our budget reflect your priorities?

  • Use our Trade-Offs tool to see the possibilities for how tax dollars from your state and city could be reallocated to different federal spending priorities.
  • Want to get involved? Visit our Take Action page to contact your legislators and the media and find additional ways to make your priorities heard.
  • Want to learn more about where your taxes go and stay updated? Sign up for our email list.
  • Think your friends would like to know about this tool? Join NPP on Facebook and share.
  • Love NPP's work? Make a donation to support more tools like this one.

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.