Official overseas military cost reports omit hundreds of millions in allied spending

Evidence

Although the OCS must report the costs of all military operations overseas, I confirmed with the Pentagon that it omits around 550 million for counternarcotics operations. It also excludes the money spent on humanitarian and civic aid. Some of the humanitarian aid can be considered truly nonmilitary, but as a budget document explains, humanitarian operations crucially help “maintain a robust overseas presence” and obtain “access to regions important to U.S. interests.” Again erring on the conservative side, I include only half of the humanitarian spending in my calculations, which adds 54 million. The Pentagon also spent $24 million on environmental projects abroad to monitor and reduce its on-base pollution, to dispose of hazardous and other waste, and for “initiatives … in support of global basing/operations.” — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 635

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the book’s running theme that official base-cost figures dramatically understate true burden — supports causal argument that the real cost of bases is systematically hidden.