June 14, 2024

What do we spend on war?

Fighter jet at sunrise

“But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you” (Luke 6:27).

The Church of the Brethren regards with sorrow and deep concern our nation’s increasing movement toward a permanently militaristic outlook. . . . The American public may come to accept as normal and inevitable the prospect that the nation must be prepared to go to war at any moment . . . that an overwhelming share of our Federal taxes must be devoted to military needs, and that this country must always be willing to assume the military burdens of weaker allies, actual or potential. Because of our complete dissent from these assumptions, the Church of the Brethren desires again, as at other times in its history, to declare its convictions about war and peace. . . . recognizing that almost all aspects of the economy are directly or indirectly connected with national defense.”
1970 Annual Conference Statement on War

Every year, the United States spends vast sums on war and the military—far more than any other nation. In 2023, the $900 billion military budget of the US represented 40.5 percent of the global total and was more than the combined total of 15 countries with the next highest military spending.

“Total global military expenditure reached $2,443 billion [equivalent to $2.443 trillion in the U.S., which uses different terminology than Europe] in 2023, an increase of 6.8 percent in real terms from 2022,” reports the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. “This was the steepest year-on-year increase since 2009. The 10 largest spenders in 2023—led by the United States, China, and Russia—all increased their military spending.”

This year, 2024, is on pace to be another record year for military spending worldwide.

And for next year, fiscal year 2025, President Biden has requested a 4.1 percent increase in the military budget over fiscal year 2023, according to the Coalition on Human Needs (CHN).

However, it’s a challenge to arrive at, or even agree on, a total dollar figure for annual US military spending. The Congressional Budget Office says that “about one-sixth of federal spending goes to national defense.” The War Resisters League—a 100-year-old peace organization famous for publishing annual pie charts titled “Where Your Income Tax Money Really Goes”—says a much larger slice of the federal pie is spent on the military.

Some spending appears in the federal budget in ways that obscure its relationship to the military. Citing figures from the Analytical Perspectives book of the Budget of the United States Government, the War Resisters League adds together both “past military” and “current military” to arrive at the total figure of $2.297 trillion in US federal military-related expenditures for fiscal year 2024. Excluding from the federal operating budget trust funds like Social Security, the War Resisters League says this comes to 43 percent of total outlays of US federal funds in 2024.

The War Resisters League accounting for 2024 includes in the current year’s spending on “past military” the veterans’ benefits of $320 billion, plus the 80 percent of the interest on the national debt that was created by the military, estimated at $806 billion. Included in the $1.171 trillion “current military” expenditures for 2024 are—in addition to the Department of Defense’s $862 billion—also the military portion of other departmental budgets such as the Department of Energy’s nuclear weapons, NASA’s military spending, international security assistance, military expenditures by Homeland Security and the State Department, and others.

To make a true accounting more difficult, US military aid to other nations often is approved as “supplemental appropriations.” Recent examples are the $60.8 billion for Ukraine and $26.3 billion for Israel (which included money for humanitarian aid for Gaza) approved in April by Congress as separate legislation, and also separate from the Pentagon budget.

In addition, there is the $3.8 billion annual military funding given by the US to Israel in an agreement made by President Obama that will continue through 2029, according to the War Resisters League.

World map with colors showing where there are U.S. military bases.
Maintaining bases and military installations in more than 90 countries and territories around the world accounts for a sizeable portion of US military expenditures. Most are a collaboration between the US and the host government, and a number in Europe are part of NATO. Some US military installations are very small, such as a communications facility with fewer than a handful of staff. Others are very large, with thousands of troops and personnel. Some are used only by US troops, some are also used by the host country’s military, and some are used by the US to train the host military. Source: World Beyond War.

In a process related to the supplemental appropriation for Ukraine, “the US will purchase the weapons from defense contractors before sending to Ukraine,” reports The Hill. Which brings up a couple of the many questions that can be asked: Who does the money actually go to? How is it accounted for?

In recent years, one-third to one-half of spending by the Pentagon has gone to federal military contractors and weapons manufacturers. “A large portion of these contracts . . . have gone to just five major corporations: Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Dynamics, Raytheon [now RTX], and Northrop Grumman,” according to a “Costs of War” analysis in 2021 by Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University. “The $75 billion in Pentagon contracts received by Lockheed Martin in fiscal year 2020 is well over one and one-half times the entire budget for the State Department and Agency for International Development for that year, which totaled $44 billion.”

In 2023, an in-depth investigation by 60 Minutes found “what can only be described as price gouging by US defense contractors,” reported CBS News.

Compounding these questions is the fact that the Department of Defense has failed its annual audit for six years in a row—ever since 2018, when it was first required to do an audit. “The 2023 audit was only able to account for half of the Department’s $3.8 trillion in assets—leaving $1.9 trillion in unaccounted assets—more than the entire discretionary budget Congress passes every year,” said a press release from the House Budget Committee.

What’s wrong with spending so much on war?

Objections from religious and humanitarian groups range from the moral to the practical. “The Federal Budget is a moral document outlining what we as a nation choose to invest in, and these investments will affect individuals and communities across the country,” says CHN. When more and more of the financial pie is spent on the military, less and less is available for basic human needs and a healthy environment.

The military has a very negative impact on the environment and climate. Reuters reports that militaries are “among the world’s biggest consumers of fuel” and “account for 5.5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions,” citing a 2022 study by Scientists for Global Responsibility and the Conflict and Environment Observatory. “Around 60 percent of all global GHG emissions come from just 10 countries,” says the study. “These are China, the USA, India, Indonesia, Russia, Brazil, Japan, Iran, Canada, and Saudi Arabia. All of these—except Indonesia—are among the top 20 countries in terms of their military expenditure.”

The Church of the Brethren’s strong statements against war are founded in our discipleship to Jesus Christ, and in a clear understanding of the terrible nature of war. Some trace this understanding to the historical Brethren identity that emerged in central Europe in the aftermath of the Thirty Years War, in which more than eight million people died from violence, famine, and disease.

One of the most important of our church statements, made in 1970, says, “The Church of the Brethren has always believed that peace is the will of God. In the two and one-half centuries of its history it has come to understand more clearly the tremendous evil which war brings upon human beings and their society.”

Mapping militarism

World Beyond War has posted a set of maps where visitors can view the world according to a variety of categories including total military spending and spending per capita; which countries are selling, buying, or financing weapons; wars, troop placements, and drone and air strikes. The category “US Empire” displays countries that have US and NATO bases and US troops, and where US wars and military interventions have taken place since 1945. A category called “Promotes peace and security” shows which countries stand by various treaties and international measures to prevent war.

Sources: Budget of the United States Government, CBS News, Coalition on Human Needs, Conflict and Environment Observatory, Congressional Budget Office, Defense News, The Guardian, The Hill, National Priorities Project at the Institute for Policy Studies, Reuters, Scientists for Global Responsibility, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), War Resisters League, The Washington Post, Watson Institute International and Public Affairs at Brown University, World Beyond War

Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford is director of News Services for the Church of the Brethren, and associate editor for Messenger. She also is an ordained minister and a graduate of Bethany Seminary and the University of La Verne, Calif.