Overseas Contingency Operations: Reported Obligations for the Department of Defense

Abstract

Since 2001, Congress has provided the Department of Defense (DoD) with $893 billion in supplemental and annual appropriations, primarily for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO). DoD's reported annual obligations for OCO 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 appropriated $151 billion in war-related requests. DoD has reported obligations of about $744 billion for OCO from fiscal year 2001 through fiscal year 2008 and through the third quarter of fiscal year 2009 (October 2008 through June 2009). The $149 billion difference between DoD's appropriations and reported obligations can generally be attributed to the remaining fiscal year 2009 appropriations; multiyear funding for procurement; military construction; and research, development, test, and evaluation from previous OCO-related appropriations that have yet to be obligated; and obligations for classified and other items that DoD considers to be non-OCO related that are not reported in DoD's cost-of-war reports. Section 1221 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 20067 requires GAO 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 GAO's analysis of DoD's reported obligations for overseas contingencies through June 2009. Specifically, GAO assessed the following: (1) DoD's cumulative appropriations and reported obligations for military operations in support of overseas contingencies; and (2) DoD's fiscal year 2009 reported obligations from October 2008 through June 2009, the latest data available for OCO by military service and appropriation account.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 25, 2009
Accession Number
ADA507145

Entities

People

  • Ann Borseth
  • Bruce Brown
  • Kevin O’neill
  • Lonnie Mcallister
  • Ron La Due Lake
  • Sharon L. Pickup

Organizations

  • United States Government Accountability Office

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Ground and Sea Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Afghanistan Conflict
  • Business Administration
  • Congress
  • Contingency Operations (Military)
  • Department Of Defense
  • Financial Management
  • Governments
  • House Of Representatives
  • Humanitarian Assistance
  • Iraqi-War
  • Law
  • Military Operations
  • Military Personnel
  • National Governments
  • National Security
  • Test And Evaluation
  • United States Government

Readers

  • Public Financial Management and Budgeting