Both the UN and United States have a long history of peace support operations upon which to base cost estimates. The UN has carried out 60 peacekeeping missions worldwide since 1948. For each mission, the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) prepares a budget, which is reviewed in detail at high levels of UN management and is ultimately approved by the General Assembly. The UN assesses each member for its allocated portion of this amount based on the country’s per capita gross national income and its membership status on the Security Council. The United States currently pays about 27 percent of the total for each mission, and in fiscal year 2005 directly contributed about $1.3 billion in support of UN peacekeeping operations overall. The United States has also led and participated in a variety of peacekeeping operations since World War II, most recently in Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, and Kosovo. U.S. military operations are funded largely by DOD appropriations, and, under DOD regulations, the budgets are based primarily on cost estimates generated with the department’s Contingency Operations Support Tool. This computer model uses financial formulas that draw upon a database of historical costs from past military operations and other regularly updated cost information. In addition, the State Department has extensive experience posting foreign service officers in conflict areas and funding U.S. police officers to support UN peacekeeping missions, for which it maintains cost estimation formulas and historical cost databases. The UN Security Council has authorized five peacekeeping missions in Haiti since 1993, of which the United States has led two between 1994 and 2004. The primary task of the ongoing MINUSTAH operation is to provide a secure and stable environment through its military and police presence and operational support to the Haitian National Police. MINUSTAH assists the transitional government in police reform and institutional strengthening; disarmament, demobilization and reintegration; elections monitoring; and promotion and protection of human rights and the political process. The initial authorized force strength was 6,700 troops, 1,622 civilian police officers, and 1,697 civilian administrators and staff. Although initially authorized for 6 months, the UN Security Council has renewed the mission’s authorization and funding through June 2006. Criticism and controversy, including allegations of sexual misconduct of peacekeepers, have brought calls for reform of UN peacekeeping operations within the UN and from U.S. observers. In 2000, the UN Secretary General convened a high-level panel to review UN peace and security, which recommended a variety of reforms. The 2005 bipartisan Task Force on the United Nations highlighted the need for more rapid deployment and more clearly defined mandates. Proposed legislation, the Henry J. Hyde United Nations Reform Act of 2005, calls for more oversight and investigation over UN operations and mandates that the UN adopt and enforce a code of conduct for all peacekeeping personnel. We estimate that it would cost the United States twice as much as the UN to conduct an operation similar to MINUSTAH. The higher U.S. cost of civilian police, military pay and support, and facilities account for virtually the entire difference between our estimate and the MINUSTAH budget, and reflects the additional cost of ensuring high U.S. standards for training, troop welfare, and personnel security. From May 1, 2004, to June 30, 2005—the first 14 months of MINUSTAH— the UN budgeted mission costs totaled $428 million. This budget assumed a phased deployment of 6,700 military personnel, 750 personnel in formed police units, 872 civilian police officers, and 1,184 civilian administrators and staff. It included the cost of personnel, operational support, equipment, facilities, and transportation. Using the same basic parameters of troop and staff deployment in Haiti for 14 months, we estimated that the United States would likely budget about $876 million, nearly twice the UN estimate, for a comparable U.S. peacekeeping operation. (This cost estimate is based on a variety of assumptions, described in detail in app. I.) The United States was financially responsible for $116 million of the budgeted cost of MINUSTAH, based on the U.S. assessed contribution of 27.1 percent of the DPKO regular budget. Hence, we estimate that conducting a U.S. operation similar to MINUSTAH would cost the United States about 7.5 times as much as its official contribution to the UN for that mission ($876 million versus $116 million). Major disparities in the cost for civilian police, military pay and support, and facilities account for virtually all of the difference between the UN budget and our cost estimate. Our estimate reflects the additional expense of paying salaries for personnel that would otherwise be donated by other countries as well as the cost of ensuring U.S. standards for police training, the equipment and welfare of military personnel, and the security of staff posted overseas. (See table 1 for a detailed comparison of the UN budget and our estimate by major cost category.) Civilian police. The UN budgeted $25 million to deploy 872 civilian officers for MINUSTAH, while we estimate that it would cost the United States $217 million to deploy the same number of U.S. officers. The UN does not reimburse countries contributing police for the officers’ salaries and only pays for living expenses, clothing allowance, and death and disability compensation. U.S. costs, however, include salaries, special pay, benefits, equipment, and special training. Furthermore, U.S. officers deployed in Haiti under MINUSTAH are required to meet standards for training, experience, and skills significantly beyond those applied by the UN. For instance, U.S. officers deployed to Haiti must be proficient in French or Haitian Creole and have a minimum of 8 years’ work experience with five years in a position of sworn civilian law enforcement. Candidates must pass several tests that measure physical capabilities and weapons proficiency. UN-sponsored officers deployed to Haiti are required by the UN to demonstrate only the ability to operate a firearm and drive a vehicle; the ability to communicate in French is preferred but not required. Military pay and support. The UN budgeted $131 million for pay and support of military troops, while we estimate it would cost the United States $260 million for the same number of soldiers. The UN costs are based primarily on a per-soldier payment to contributing nations of up to $1,400 monthly for basic pay and allowances, clothing, gear, equipment, and ammunition. U.S. costs include pay and allowances for reservists and active duty personnel as well as clothing, arms, protective gear, and rations. The higher U.S. costs help ensure a basic standard of living for U.S. soldiers and their families and relatively high standards of welfare in the field in terms of equipment, nutrition, health, and morale. For example, estimated costs for food and water for U.S. military personnel total $85 million, compared to $20 million in the UN budget. Medical support for the military and civilian personnel on a U.S. operation would cost an estimated $22 million, over four times the UN budgeted cost of $5 million. According to officials of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, UN multinational forces in Haiti prior to MINUSTAH had difficulty providing adequate troop support and relied on accompanying U.S. forces for supplementary rations and health care. A Rand Corporation study of the multinational force cooperation in Haiti in 1994 indicates that the U.S. forces provided UN forces with intelligence and training, as well as logistical and communications support, including housing, food, transportation, and vehicle maintenance. Facilities. The UN budgeted $100 million for facilities-related costs, while we estimate that the cost to the United States would be $208 million. The UN budget includes acquisition and construction of troop and civilian housing and other facility-related equipment and supplies. While MINUSTAH staff offices are donated by the Government of Haiti, U.S. facilities must meet State Department security standards, which include posting civilian staff within secure U.S. embassy or consulate compounds. In addition to administrative and security expenses, U.S. government agencies with staff in these compounds would be required to contribute a total of about $12 million to the State Department’s Capital Security Cost- Sharing Program, which funds the construction of secure embassies worldwide. Estimated costs in other categories are likely to be similar for the UN and the United States. For example, we estimate that the transport of U.S. troops, civilian personnel, and equipment would cost about $100 million; the UN budgeted $94 million for these costs. Various military and nonmilitary factors can influence the composition of a peacekeeping operation and thus impact the estimated cost. We identified three different military scenarios that could substantially affect the estimated costs of a U.S. peacekeeping operation. Greater concentration of reserve troops could almost double the military costs, while a quicker deployment of forces and higher operational tempo would also increase costs. Further, the addition of nation-building and development assistance activities to the scope of an operation in Haiti would increase the estimated cost substantially. According to U.S. experts in military operations and cost estimation we consulted, various factors could significantly influence the cost estimate for a U.S. peacekeeping operation. These factors include the number of troops and types of military units deployed, the pace of deployment, the intensity or operational tempo, the modes of transportation for deployment, and the mix of active duty and reserve troops. These factors depend heavily on the needs of the operation and demands of other military commitments; decisions about such factors involve complex military, political, and financial considerations that can change rapidly. We analyzed the potential impact of three principal cost factors by altering the assumptions of our cost estimate to reflect (1) military forces comprised entirely of reserve soldiers, (2) deployment of military forces within the first 60 days of the operation rather than 180 days, and (3) higher operational tempo (more intensive use of vehicles and equipment).