United States Government Accountability Office

Washington, DC 20548 

March 30, 2009 

Congressional Committees 

Subject: Global War on Terrorism: Reported Obligations for the Department of Defense

Since 2001, Congress has provided the Department of Defense (DOD) with about $808 

billion in supplemental and annual appropriations, as of March 2009, primarily for military 

operations in support of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT).1

 DOD’s reported annual 

obligations2

 for GWOT have shown a steady increase from about $0.2 billion in fiscal year 

2001 to about $162.4 billion in fiscal year 2008. For fiscal year 2009, Congress provided DOD 

with about $65.9 billion in supplemental appropriations for GWOT as of March 2009 and the 

President plans on requesting an additional $75.5 billion in supplemental appropriations for 

GWOT for the remainder of the fiscal year. A total of $31.0 billion has been obligated in the

first quarter of fiscal year 2009 through December 2008. The United States’ commitments to 

GWOT will likely involve the continued investment of significant resources, requiring 

decision makers to consider difficult trade-offs as the nation faces an increasing long-range 

fiscal challenge. The magnitude of future costs will depend on several direct and indirect 

cost variables and, in some cases, decisions that have not yet been made. DOD’s future costs 

will likely be affected by the pace and duration of operations, the types of facilities needed 

to support troops overseas, redeployment plans, and the amount of equipment to be 

repaired or replaced.3

 

DOD compiles and reports monthly and cumulative incremental obligations incurred to 

support GWOT in a monthly report commonly called the Contingency Operations Status of 

Funds Report.4

 DOD leadership uses this report, along with other information, to advise 

Congress on the costs of the war and to formulate future GWOT budget requests. DOD 

reports these obligations by appropriation, contingency operation,5

 and military service or 

 1

After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the President announced a Global War on Terrorism, 

requiring the collective instruments of the entire federal government to counter the threat of terrorism. 

Ongoing military and diplomatic operations overseas, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan, constitute a key part 

of GWOT. These operations involve a wide variety of activities, such as combating insurgents, training the

military forces of other nations, and conducting small-scale reconstruction and humanitarian relief projects. 2

According to Department of Defense, Financial Management Regulation, 7000.14-R, vol. 1, ”Definitions” 

(Dec. 2001), xvii, obligations are incurred through actions such as orders placed, contracts awarded, services 

received, or similar transactions made by federal agencies during a given period that will require payments 

during the same or a future period. 3

For more information see GAO, Securing, Stabilizing, and Rebuilding Iraq: Key Issues for Congressional 

Oversight, GAO-07-308SP (Washington, D.C.: Jan. 9, 2007), and Global War on Terrorism: Observations on

Funding, Costs, and Future Commitments, GAO-06-885T (Washington, D.C.: July 18, 2006). 4

 This report replaces the Supplemental and Cost of War Execution Report. 5

DOD defines contingency operations to include small, medium, and large-scale campaign-level military 

operations, including support for peacekeeping operations, major humanitarian assistance efforts, 

noncombatant evacuation operations, and international disaster relief efforts. 

GAO-09-449R Global War on Terrorism
 GAO-09-449R Global War on Terrorism Page 2 

 

defense agency. DOD has prepared monthly reports on the obligations incurred for its 

involvement in GWOT since fiscal year 2001.6

Section 1221 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 20067

 requires us to 

submit quarterly updates to Congress on the costs of Operation Iraqi Freedom and 

Operation Enduring Freedom based on DOD’s monthly cost-of-war reports. This report, 

which responds to this requirement, contains our analysis of DOD’s reported obligations for 

military operations in support of GWOT through December 2008. Specifically, we assessed 

(1) DOD’s cumulative appropriations and reported obligations for military operations in 

support of GWOT and (2) DOD’s fiscal year 2009 reported obligations from October 2008 

through December 2008, the latest data available for GWOT by military service and 

appropriation account. 

In fiscal year 2008, we have conducted a series of reviews examining funding and reported 

obligations for military operations in support of GWOT. Our prior work8

 has found the data 

in DOD’s monthly cost-of-war report to be of questionable reliability. Consequently, we are 

unable to ensure that DOD’s reported obligations for GWOT are complete, reliable, and 

accurate, and they therefore should be considered approximations. Based on this work, we 

have made a number of recommendations to the Secretary of Defense intended to improve 

the transparency and reliability of DOD’s GWOT obligations. For example we have 

recommended that DOD (1) revise the cost reporting guidance so that large amounts of 

reported obligations are not shown in “other” miscellaneous categories and (2) take steps to 

ensure that reported GWOT obligations are reliable. In response, DOD is taking steps to 

improve GWOT cost reporting. For example, DOD has modified its guidance to more clearly 

define some of the cost categories and is taking additional steps to strengthen the oversight 

and program management of the cost reporting. Specifically, DOD has taken steps to 

improve transparency by requiring components to analyze variances in reported obligations 

and to disclose reasons for significant changes, and to affirm that monthly reported GWOT 

obligations provide a fair representation of ongoing activities. Furthermore, in February 

2007, DOD established a Senior Steering Group including representatives from DOD, the 

Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS), and the military services in an effort to 

standardize and improve the GWOT cost-reporting process and to increase management 

attention to the process. DOD established a GWOT Cost-of-War Project Management Office 

to monitor work performed by auditing agencies and to report possible solutions and 

improvements to the Senior Steering Group. DOD has started several initiatives to improve 

credibility, transparency, and timeliness. One of the initiatives is a quarterly validation of 

GWOT obligation transactions at each of the DOD components with the goal of having a 

sampling of all types of costs validated in fiscal year 2008. Until all DOD efforts are more 

fully implemented, it is too soon to know the extent to which these changes will improve the 

reliability of DOD’s cost reporting. 

6

Department of Defense, Financial Management Regulation, 7000.14-R, vol. 12, ch. 23. This regulation 

generally establishes financial policy and procedures related to DOD contingency operations. Volume 6A, 

chapter 2, and volume 3, chapter 8, of the DOD Financial Management Regulation also include provisions to 

ensure the accuracy of cost reporting. 

7

Pub. L. No. 109-163, § 1221(c) (2006). 

8

For more information see GAO, Global War on Terrorism: DOD Needs to Improve the Reliability of Cost 

Data and Provide Additional Guidance to Control Costs, GAO-05-882 (Washington, D.C.: Sept. 21, 2005); and 

Global War on Terrorism: DOD Needs to Take Action to Encourage Fiscal Discipline and Optimize the Use 

of Tools Intended to Improve GWOT Cost Reporting, GAO-08-68 (Washington, D.C.: Nov. 6, 2007). 
 GAO-09-449R Global War on Terrorism Page 3 

 

While establishing sound cost reporting procedures and oversight is clearly important, the 

reliability of the cost-of-war reports also depends on the quality of DOD’s accounting data. 

Factors contributing to DOD’s challenges in reporting reliable cost data include longstanding deficiencies in DOD’s financial management systems. We are aware that DOD has 

efforts under way to improve these systems as well. 

We have also made recommendations to improve transparency and fiscal responsibility 

related to funding the war on terrorism and to permit the Congress and the administration to 

establish priorities and make trade-offs among those priorities in defense funding. 

Specifically, we recommended that DOD (1) issue guidance defining what constitutes the 

“longer war against terror,” identify what costs are related to that longer war, and build 

these costs into the base defense budget; (2) identify incremental costs of the ongoing 

GWOT operations that can be moved into the base budget; and (3) in consultation with the 

Office of Management and Budget, consider limiting emergency funding requests to truly 

unforeseen or sudden events.9

 We will continue to review DOD’s efforts to implement these 

recommendations as part of our follow-up work on GWOT. 

Scope and Methodology 

To conduct our work, we analyzed applicable annual and supplemental appropriations from 

fiscal year 2001 through fiscal year 2009 as of December 2008, the latest GWOT 

appropriations provided. We also analyzed DOD’s monthly cost of war reports from 

September 2001 through December 2008, the latest data available. Specifically, we identified 

appropriated amounts primarily intended for GWOT and reported GWOT obligations for 

each operation, military service, and appropriation account. 

We will continue to review DOD’s funding and reported obligations for GWOT, including the 

reliability of the reported obligations. We are also reviewing DOD’s methodology for 

reporting GWOT costs by contingency operations, including the types of costs reported for 

those operations. We plan to report on this work in March 2009. 

We conducted this performance audit from February 2009 to March 2009 in accordance with 

generally accepted government auditing standards. Those standards require that we plan 

and perform the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable 

basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that the 

evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on 

our audit objectives. 

Summary 

As of December 2008, Congress has appropriated a total of about $808 billion primarily for 

GWOT operations since 2001. Of that amount, about $187 billion has been provided for fiscal 

year 2008 and about $65.9 billion has been appropriated for use in fiscal year 2009. DOD 

plans on requesting an additional $75.5 billion in supplemental funds for fiscal year 2009. 

DOD has reported obligations of about $685.7 billion for military operations in support of 

the war from fiscal year 2001 through fiscal year 2008 and for fiscal year 2009 (October 

9

GAO-08-68. 
through December 2008). The $122.3 billion difference10 between DOD’s appropriations and 

reported obligations can generally be attributed to multiyear funding for procurement; 

military construction; and research, development, test, and evaluation from previous GWOTrelated appropriations11 that have yet to be obligated; and obligations for classified and other 

items, which DOD considers to be non-GWOT related, that are not reported in DOD’s costof-war reports.12 As part of our ongoing work, we are reviewing DOD’s rationale for 

reporting its GWOT-related obligations. 

Figure 1 shows the increase in DOD’s cumulative reported GWOT obligations and 

cumulative GWOT appropriations from fiscal year 2001 through fiscal year 2008 and through 

the first quarter of fiscal year 2009 (October through December 2008). The appropriations 

amount includes the fiscal year 2009 appropriation of $65.9 billion. The appropriations 

amount does not include the additional $75.5 billion in supplemental appropriations that 

DOD plans on requesting for the remainder of fiscal year 2009. 

Figure 1: DOD’s Cumulative Reported GWOT Appropriations and Obligations for 

Fiscal Years 2001 through 2008 and for Fiscal Year 2009 through December 2008 

Notes: Appropriations amounts reflect totals provided in supplemental and annual appropriations legislation. Reported GWOT obligations 

include Operation Noble Eagle, Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation Iraqi Freedom, and generally reflect costs reported in

DOD’s cost-of-war reports. However, the fiscal year 2002 and 2003 figures include about $20.1 billion that according to DOD officials was

war related but not reported in DOD’s cost-of-war reports. GAO has assessed the reliability of DOD’s obligation data and found significant 

problems, such that these data may not accurately reflect the true dollar value of GWOT obligations. 

 10We calculated this difference by comparing available data on appropriations and reported obligations. 11Appropriations for military personnel and operation and maintenance are usually available for 1 year, while

appropriations for research, development, test and evaluation are usually available for 2 years; procurement 

funds (with the exception of ship building funds, which are sometimes available longer) are usually available

for 3 years; and military construction funds are usually available for 5 years. 

 Page 4 GAO-09-449R Global War on Terrorism

12 We have not reviewed DOD’s determination of what appropriations should be considered non-GWOT. 
 GAO-09-449R Global War on Terrorism Page 5 

Of DOD’s total cumulative reported obligations for GWOT through December 2008 (about 

$685.7 billion), about $533.5 billion is for operations in and around Iraq as part of Operation 

Iraqi Freedom, and about $124.1 billion is for operations in Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa, 

the Philippines, and elsewhere as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. The remaining about 

$28.1 billion is for operations in defense of the homeland as part of Operation Noble Eagle. 

As figure 2 shows, DOD’s reported obligations for Operation Iraqi Freedom have 

consistently increased each fiscal year since operations began. The increases in reported 

obligations for Operation Iraqi Freedom are in part due to continued costs for military 

personnel, such as military pay and allowances for mobilized reservists, and for rising 

operation and maintenance expenses, such as higher contract costs for housing, food, and 

services and higher fuel costs. In addition, the need to repair and replace equipment because 

of the harsh combat and environmental conditions in theater and the ongoing costs 

associated with the surge strategy announced in January 2007, which provided for the 

deployment of additional troops, have further increased obligations for Operation Iraqi 

Freedom. In contrast, DOD’s reported obligations for Operation Noble Eagle have 

consistently decreased since fiscal year 2003, largely because of the completion of repairs to 

the Pentagon and upgrades in security at military installations that were onetime costs, as 

well as a reduction in combat air patrols and in the number of reserve personnel guarding 

government installations. Reported obligations for Operation Enduring Freedom have 

ranged from $10.3 billion to $20.1 billion each fiscal year since 2003. Recent increases in 

reported obligations for Operation Enduring Freedom are in part caused by higher troop 

levels in Afghanistan, the costs associated with training Afghan security forces, and the need 

to repair and replace equipment after several years of ongoing operations. 
Figure 2: DOD’s Reported GWOT Obligations for Fiscal Years 2001 through 2008 by 

Operation 

Notes: Operation Iraqi Freedom began in fiscal year 2003; therefore no obligations were reported in fiscal years 2001 and 2002 for this

operation. Reported GWOT obligations generally reflect costs reported in DOD’s cost-of-war reports. However, the fiscal year 2002 and

2003 figures include about $20.1 billion that according to DOD officials was war-related but not reported in DOD’s cost-of-war reports. 

GAO has assessed the reliability of DOD’s obligation data and found significant problems, such that these data may not accurately reflect 

the true dollar value of GWOT obligations. 

In fiscal year 2009, through December 2008, DOD reported obligations of about $31.0 billion, 

which are about one fifth of the total amount of obligation it reported for all of fiscal year 

2008. Reported obligations for Operation Iraqi Freedom for the same period continue to 

account for the largest portion of total reported GWOT obligations by operation—about 

$25.1 billion. In contrast, reported obligations associated with Operation Enduring Freedom 

total about $5.9 billion, and reported obligations associated with Operation Noble Eagle 

total about $50.0 million. 

The Army accounts for the largest portion of reported obligations for fiscal year 2009 

through December 2008—about $21.5 billion, six times higher than the almost $3.7 billion in 

obligations reported for the Air Force, the military service with the next greatest reported 

amount. Among appropriation accounts, operation and maintenance, which includes items 

such as support for housing, food, and services; the repair of equipment; and transportation 

to move people, supplies, and equipment, accounts for the largest reported obligations—

about $17.6 billion. Reported obligations for the procurement account represent about 21.8 

percent of reported obligations or about $6.8 billion. 

Figure 3 shows DOD’s reported obligations for fiscal year 2009 through December 2008 by 

DOD component and appropriation account. 

 Page 6 GAO-09-449R Global War on Terrorism
Figure 3: DOD’s Reported GWOT Obligations for Fiscal Year 2009, by DOD 

Component and Appropriation Account, as of December 2008 

Notes: Totals may not add to rounding. The “Other” portion of the appropriation account pie chart includes programs designed to

reimburse coalition countries for logistical and military support, to train and equip the Afghan National Army and Armed Forces of Iraq, 

and to execute the Commanders Emergency Response Program. GAO has assessed the reliability of DOD’s obligation data and found

significant problems, such that these data may not accurately reflect the true dollar value of GWOT obligations. 

Agency Comments and Our Evaluation 

In written comments on a draft of this report, DOD noted our report stated that the 

Department is continuing to take steps to improve GWOT cost reporting and mentioned its 

new GWOT “Status of Funds” report and the implementation of its revised reporting system. 

According to DOD, this process is continuing to mature, but serves as an example of DOD’s 

efforts to improve transparency, reliability and usefulness of cost of war reporting. See 

enclosure I for DOD’s response. 

- - - - - 

We are sending copies of this report to interested congressional committees; the Secretary 

of Defense; the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller); and the Director, Office of 

Management and Budget. In addition, this report will be available at no charge on the GAO 

Web site at http://www.gao.gov. 

 Page 7 GAO-09-449R Global War on Terrorism
If you or your staff have any questions about this report, please contact me at (202) 512-9619 

or pickups@gao.gov. Contact points for our Offices of Congressional Relations and Public 

Affairs may be found on the last page of this report. Key contributors to this report are listed 

in enclosure II. 

Sharon L. Pickup 

Director, Defense Capabilities and Management 

Enclosures - 2 

 Page 8 GAO-09-449R Global War on Terrorism
 GAO-09-449R Global War on Terrorism Page 9 

List of Committees 

The Honorable Carl Levin 

Chairman 

The Honorable John McCain 

Ranking Member 

Committee on Armed Services 

United States Senate 

The Honorable Daniel K. Inouye 

Chairman 

The Honorable Thad Cochran 

Ranking Member 

Subcommittee on Defense 

Committee on Appropriations 

United States Senate 

The Honorable Ike Skelton 

Chairman 

The Honorable John McHugh 

Ranking Member 

Committee on Armed Services 

House of Representatives 

The Honorable John P. Murtha 

Chairman 

The Honorable C. W. Bill Young 

Ranking Member 

Subcommittee on Defense 

Committee on Appropriations 

House of Representatives
 

 

Enclosure I 

Comments from the Department of Defense 

Page 10 GAO-09-449R Global War on Terrorism
 

 

Enclosure II

GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments 

GAO Contact Sharon Pickup, (202) 512-9619 or pickups@gao.gov 

Acknowledgments In addition to the contact named above, Ann Borseth, Assistant 

Director; Bruce Brown; Ron La Due Lake; Lonnie McAllister; and 

Eric Petersen made key contributions to this report. 

(351313) 

Page 11 GAO-09-449R Global War on Terrorism
This is a work of the U.S. government and is not subject to copyright protection in the 

United States. The published product may be reproduced and distributed in its entirety 

without further permission from GAO. However, because this work may contain 

copyrighted images or other material, permission from the copyright holder may be 

necessary if you wish to reproduce this material separately. 
GAO’s Mission The Government Accountability Office, the audit, evaluation, and 

investigative arm of Congress, exists to support Congress in meeting its 

constitutional responsibilities and to help improve the performance and 

accountability of the federal government for the American people. GAO 

examines the use of public funds; evaluates federal programs and policies; 

and provides analyses, recommendations, and other assistance to help

Congress make informed oversight, policy, and funding decisions. GAO’s 

commitment to good government is reflected in its core values of 

accountability, integrity, and reliability. 

The fastest and easiest way to obtain copies of GAO documents at no cost

is through GAO’s Web site (www.gao.gov). Each weekday afternoon, GAO 

posts on its Web site newly released reports, testimony, and 

correspondence. To have GAO e-mail you a list of newly posted products, 

go to www.gao.gov and select “E-mail Updates.” 

The price of each GAO publication reflects GAO’s actual cost of 

production and distribution and depends on the number of pages in the 

publication and whether the publication is printed in color or black and 

white. Pricing and ordering information is posted on GAO’s Web site, 

http://www.gao.gov/ordering.htm. 

Place orders by calling (202) 512-6000, toll free (866) 801-7077, or 

TDD (202) 512-2537. 

Orders may be paid for using American Express, Discover Card, 

MasterCard, Visa, check, or money order. Call for additional information. 

Contact: 

Web site: www.gao.gov/fraudnet/fraudnet.htm

E-mail: fraudnet@gao.gov

Automated answering system: (800) 424-5454 or (202) 512-7470 

Ralph Dawn, Managing Director, dawnr@gao.gov, (202) 512-4400 

U.S. Government Accountability Office, 441 G Street NW, Room 7125 

Washington, DC 20548 

Chuck Young, Managing Director, youngc1@gao.gov, (202) 512-4800 

U.S. Government Accountability Office, 441 G Street NW, Room 7149 

Washington, DC 20548 

Obtaining Copies of 

GAO Reports and 

Testimony

Order by Phone 

To Report Fraud,

Waste, and Abuse in 

Federal Programs 

Congressional 

Relations 

Public Affairs 

Please Print on Recycled Paper