The $1 Million Soldier: What’s Wrong with How We Budget War

The recent events in Libya have opened up an important debate about how we pay for our wars and military endeavors around the world, write Lawrence Korb and Laura Conley.

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The two-week-old military action in Libya has prompted a frenzy of headlines and sound bites about the operation’s cost.

Can the United States afford it?

The short answer is "yes." The defense budget exceeds $500 billion a year, so the Pentagon has money on hand to pay for Libya.

But that’s not the whole story. The recent events in Libya have opened up a long-standing and important debate about how we pay for our wars and military endeavors around the world.

The above excerpt was originally published in CNNMoney. Click here to view the full article.

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Authors

Lawrence J. Korb

Senior Fellow

Topics

States

The $1 Million Soldier: What’s Wrong with How We Budget War