The Economic Cost of a U.S. Military Strike on Syria

National Priorities Project September 6, 2013, 6:16:53 AM EDT jo@nationalpriorities.org The Economic Cost of a U.S. Military Strike on Syria NPP's Weekly Roundup As federal lawmakers and the American people grapple with the possibility of U.S. military intervention in Syria, NPP brings you a new interactive tool tracking the Cost of National Security. The site features counters displaying the real-time running cost of U.S. military programs, including the Tomahawk Cruise Missile - the weapon to be used in a strike on Syria. A snapshot of NPP's rolling counter showing how much U.S. taxpayers have spent so far in 2013 on Tomahawk Missiles. Tomahawk Cruise Missiles Will Cost Taxpayers $36,000 Every Hour in 2013 In 2013, the Pentagon already plans to purchase 200 Tomahawk missiles at a total cost to U.S. taxpayers of $320 million in just one year, or over $36,000 every hour. Impossible to Predict the Total Cost of Military Intervention in Syria It's impossible to know if military intervention in Syria will cost the U.S. $100 million or hundreds of billions. The cost of Tomahawk Cruise Missiles alone would spike if we fire hundreds of them at Syria, as we did in Libya. In 2011, U.S. forces fired 110 Tomahawk missiles in the first hour of the strike on Libya. That conflict cost the nation upwards of $1 billion. Tracking War & Military Spending Per Hour In addition to the Tomahawk, NPP's new Cost of National Security site displays rolling counters tracking the cost per hour of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the entire Department of Defense, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, Foreign Military Aid, and Homeland Security. Making National Security Local The Cost of National Security site also allows users to see the local cost of national security for 9,900 cities and towns, and every state, Congressional District, and county in the nation. In tandem with NPP's Trade-Offs tool, users can see what their city or town could have bought instead - from police officers to school teachers to Pell grants. What Counts As National Security? According to recent polling, only 26 percent of Americans support military intervention in Syria, while 40 percent favor humanitarian assistance instead. In addition to military-related spending, Cost of National Security tracks humanitarian aid and spending on a host of domestic programs. We created Cost of National Security to provoke a national debate about what it takes to be a secure nation. I hope you will explore this new resource and send us your thoughts! Sincerely, Jo Comerford Executive Director National Priorities Project (NPP) makes complex federal budget information transparent and accessible so people can prioritize and influence how their tax dollars are spent. We hold the vision of an informed and engaged democracy where all people affected by federal spending priorities have the ability and opportunity to shape our nation's budget. Find out more at our website. National Priorities Project | 243 King Street | Suite 109 | Northampton | MA | 01060