Our Real US National Security Budget is $1.2 Trillion

Normally, in media accounts, you hear about the Pentagon budget and the war-fighting supplementary funds passed by our Congress for our conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, but that's barely more than half of it: If Americans were ever presented the real bill for the total US national security budget, it would add up to more than $1.2 trillion a year. It's true, you won't find that figure in your daily newspaper or on your nightly newscast, but it's no misprint. It may even be an underestimate. In any case, it's the "real thing", when it comes to your tax dollars! The simplest way to grasp just how Americans could pay such a staggering amount annually for "security" is to go through what we know about the US national security budget, step by step, and add it all up. Fortunately, on February 14th, the Obama administration officially released its Fiscal Year 2012 budget request: For 2012, the White House has requested $558 billion for the Pentagon's annual "base" budget, plus an additional $118 billion to fund military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. At $676 billion, this is just the barest of beginnings when it comes to what American taxpayers will actually spend on "national security."