Independent estimates of overseas base costs exceed official figures tenfold

Evidence

By my very conservative calculations, the total cost of maintaining bases and military personnel overseas reaches at least 71.8 billion every year and could easily be in the range of 100–120 billion. That’s larger than the discretionary budget for every government agency except the Defense Department itself. And this number doesn’t even include spending on bases in overseas war zones. If we include the cost of bases and troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, in 2012 the total easily topped 170 billion. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 29 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: True overseas base costs exceed the official Pentagon total by over threefold; Stationing troops overseas costs tens of thousands more per person annually; Official overseas base costs for 2012 totaled 22.7 billion dollars — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 604 (+10 more)

Related

• True overseas base costs exceed the official Pentagon total by over threefold (similarity 0.96)
• Official overseas base costs for 2012 totaled 22.7 billion dollars (similarity 0.94)
• Overseas bases cost more to run than domestic ones despite host-nation support (similarity 0.94)
• US overseas bases cost taxpayers at least $71.8 billion annually (similarity 0.93)
• U.S. bases and troops abroad cost about $170 billion in 2012 (similarity 0.93)
• War appropriations added about $80.6 billion in 2012 toward maintaining overseas bases (similarity 0.92)
• Overseas bases and troops cost around $136 billion in 2014 (similarity 0.91)
• Official Pentagon figures understate overseas base costs by over fivefold (similarity 0.91)
• Total overseas base costs reached $170 billion for fiscal year 2012. (similarity 0.90)
• Stationing troops overseas costs tens of thousands more per person annually (similarity 0.90)
• Independent estimates put overseas base costs tenfold above the Pentagon’s figure (similarity 0.89)
• Official overseas base cost figures exclude all war-zone maintenance spending (similarity 0.88)
• Stationing a soldier abroad costs each taxpayer $10,000–$40,000 more annually (similarity 0.87)
• Overseas base spending exceeds every federal agency’s budget except Defense. (similarity 0.87)
• Official base cost tallies exclude billions in classified overseas programs (similarity 0.86)

Broader Connections

• True overseas base costs exceed the official Pentagon total by over threefold #corroborates (0.80)
• Official Pentagon spending figures on overseas bases are underestimates. #corroborates (0.80)
• US overseas bases cost taxpayers at least $71.8 billion annually #corroborates (0.70) — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 29
• The Overseas Cost Summary omits entire categories of overseas spending #expands (0.70)
• Overseas bases and troops cost around $136 billion in 2014 #corroborates (0.60) — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 647
• Humanitarian and counternarcotics spending function as bases-related costs omitted from official tallies #expands (0.60)
• War appropriations added about $80.6 billion in 2012 toward maintaining overseas bases #corroborates (0.60)
• U.S. bases and troops abroad cost about $170 billion in 2012 #corroborates (0.60) — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 647
• Official war spending figures omit billions in unacknowledged costs #expands (0.50)
• The Pentagon’s cost report omits a dozen known base-hosting countries #expands (0.50) — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 608
• Stationing troops overseas costs tens of thousands more per person annually #corroborates (0.40)
• Official overseas base costs for 2012 totaled 22.7 billion dollars #contradicts (0.40) — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 604
• Stationing a soldier abroad costs each taxpayer $10,000–$40,000 more annually #corroborates (0.40) — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 28