[Budget of the U.S. Government]
[VI. Investing in the Common Good: The Major Functions of the Federal Government]
[12. National Defense]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]
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12. NATIONAL DEFENSE
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Table 12-1. FEDERAL RESOURCES IN SUPPORT OF NATIONAL DEFENSE
(In millions of dollars)
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Estimate
Function 050 1996 -----------------------------------------------------------------
Actual 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002
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Spending:
Discretionary Budget Authority... 265,007 263,072 265,974 269,834 275,517 281,997 289,760
Mandatory Outlays:
Existing law................... -208 -782 -740 -682 -542 -528 -514
Proposed legislation........... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... -200
Credit Activity:
Guaranteed loans................. 276 50 250 500 800 800 800
Tax Expenditures:
Existing law..................... 2,060 2,080 2,095 2,120 2,140 2,160 2,180
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Through its budget, the Federal Government in recent years has
provided about $265 billion a year to defend the United States, its
citizens, and its allies, and to protect and advance American interests
around the world. National defense programs and activities are designed
to ensure that the United States maintains strong, ready, and modern
military forces that will promote U.S. objectives in peacetime, deter
and prevent war, and successfully defend our Nation and its interests in
wartime, in conjunction with our allies, when necessary.
Over the past half-century, our defense program has deterred both
conventional and nuclear attack upon U.S. soil and brought a successful
end to the Cold War. Today, the United States is the sole remaining
superpower in the world, with unique military capabilities unsurpassed
by any nation. As the world's best trained and best equipped fighting
force, the U.S. military continues to provide the strength and
leadership that serves as the foundation upon which to promote peace,
freedom, and prosperity around the globe.
Again and again in the past three years, U.S. troops have
demonstrated the continued readiness and strength required to achieve
these objectives:
Our forces maintain a continuous presence in the Persian Gulf,
providing security for a volatile region of the world; in
1994, rapid deployment of additional U.S. forces to the
Persian Gulf turned back a potential Iraqi threat to Kuwait;
With the 82nd Airborne division en route to Haiti, we forced
the Cedras regime to relinquish power, and the peaceful
introduction of U.S. forces to the island established a secure
environment for the Haitian people to find freedom and re-
create a democratic government;
Hundreds of thousands of lives in Rwanda and Somalia were
saved through U.S. humanitarian missions; and,
By helping to enforce United Nations mandates in the former
Yugoslavia and by subsequently deploying a substantial U.S.
force under NATO command, the United States is helping to
successfully implement the Dayton Peace Agreement.
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Department of Defense
The Department of Defense (DOD) budget provides for the pay,
training, operation and maintenance, and support of U.S. military
forces, and for the development and acquisition of modern equipment to:
Assure that the U.S. military remains the world's most ready
and capable force;
Sustain U.S. defense forces at levels sufficient to meet post-
Cold War challenges;
Give U.S. forces the military hardware that employs the best
available technologies; and
Assure the Nation's security by seeking arms control
agreements, reducing weapons of mass destruction while
preventing their proliferation, and combating terrorism.
To achieve these objectives, DOD supports these capabilities:
Conventional Forces.--The Nation needs conventional forces to deter
aggression and, when that fails, to respond to it. Funds to support
these forces cover pay and benefits for military personnel; the
purchase, operation, and maintenance of conventional systems such as
tanks, aircraft and ships; the purchase of ammunition and spare parts;
and training. Major acquisitions in the President's budget plan include
combat vehicle and aircraft enhancements for the Army, such as the
Abrams tank and the Apache helicopter; ships for the Navy, such as DDG-
51 destroyers and the New Attack Submarine; aircraft for the Air Force,
such as F-15E multi-role fighters and a JSTARS surveillance aircraft;
and the V-22 aircraft for the Marine Corps.
Mobility Forces.--Mobility forces provide the airlift and sealift
that transport military personnel and materiel throughout the world.
They play a critical role in current U.S. defense strategy and are a
vital component of America's response to contingencies that range from
humanitarian relief efforts to major regional conflicts. Airlift
aircraft provide a flexible, rapid way to deploy forces and supplies
quickly to distant regions, while sealift ships allow the deployment of
large numbers of heavy forces together with their fuel and supplies. The
mobility program also includes prepositioning of equipment and supplies
at sea or on land near the location of a potential crisis. This allows
U.S. forces that must respond rapidly to crises overseas to quickly draw
upon these prepositioned items. Major acquisitions in this area include
the C-17 strategic airlift aircraft and large medium-speed roll on/roll
off ships.
Strategic Forces.--Funding for nuclear forces is at its lowest level
in over 30 years. Nonetheless, strategic forces are an important
component of our capability. Within treaty-imposed limits, the primary
mission of strategic forces is to deter nuclear attack against the
United States and its allies, and to convince potential adversaries that
they will never gain a nuclear advantage against the United States. The
budget enhances land, air, and sea-based forces by supporting service
life extension programs for the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic
missile, continued modifications to B-2 bombers, and procurement of
additional Trident II (D-5) submarine launched ballistic missiles.
Supporting Activities.--Supporting defense activities include
research and development, communications, intelligence, training and
medical services, central supply and maintenance, and other logistics
activities. The goal of defense research and development programs is to
provide new and better weapons systems that will be superior to the
weapons of potential adversaries.
Department of Energy
The unifying mission of the Energy Department's (DOE) defense
activities is to reduce the global nuclear danger. DOE works to
accomplish this goal by:
Supporting and maintaining a safe, secure, reliable, and
smaller nuclear weapons stockpile without nuclear testing,
within the framework of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty;
Dismantling excess nuclear weapons;
Providing technical leadership for national and global
nonproliferation efforts; and
Reducing the environmental, safety, and health risks from
current and former facilities in the nuclear weapons complex.
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Defense-Related Activities
Other activities in this function that support national defense
include programs of the:
Coast Guard, which supports the defense mission through
training, aids to navigation, international icebreaking,
equipment maintenance, and support of the Coast Guard Reserve;
Federal Bureau of Investigation, which conducts
counterintelligence and surveillance activities;
Maritime Administration, which helps maintain a fleet of
active, military-useful, privately owned U.S. vessels that
would be available in times of national emergency; and the
Selective Service System, which is initiating a Service to
America program that will give almost two million young
Americans a year the chance to volunteer for Americorps or the
Armed Services.