Nuclear security spending

Although the United States does not maintain or track a nuclear weapons budget per se, it is possible, using publicly available government documents, to assemble a reasonably accurate, although not comprehensive, picture of most nuclear weapons and weapons-related spending. Total appropriations for nuclear weapons and weapons-related programs in fiscal year (FY) 2008 were at least $52.4 billion, according to the best available data (see Figure 1). This does not include costs for air defense, antisubmarine warfare, classified programs, and most nuclear weapons-related intelligence programs. The total costs borne by the Department of Defense (DOD) to deploy and maintain nuclear forces are partially estimated and therefore may be too low. By way of comparison, the 2008 nuclear weapons and weapons-related budget exceeds all anticipated government expenditures on international diplomacy and foreign assistance ($39.5 billion) and natural resources and the environment ($33 billion). It is nearly double the budget for general science, space, and technology ($27.4 billion), and it is almost fourteen times what the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has allocated for all energy-related research and development. Moreover, the allocation of funds among the five categories reveals troubling realities about current government priorities in the nuclear arena.