[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.