Pentagon Seeks Untold Billions for Terror War

Many Details of Budget 'Classified'

The Obama Administration is seeking billions of dollars in additional terror funding for assorted anti-terror operations, including increased military aid in Pakistan and funding to confront militants across the world.

Pentagon officials declined to speculate exactly how much additional funding was being requested, and many of the requests are hidden in classified budget requests. The cost of the ever-growing CIA drone strikes against Pakistan in particular remains a closely guarded secret.

But with the Fiscal Year 2011 military budget already reaching unprecedented levels, some officials were trying to sell the additional increases as “savings.” Secretary of Defense Robert Gates in particular claimed the massive increase in military aid in Yemen could in the long run save money, as it was cheaper than a hypothetical ground invasion of the nation.

The Obama Administration’s official plan has the 2011 budget as dramatically larger than 2012, but it should be remembered that when the massive 2010 budget was presented, their projections for 2011 were drastically lower then they turned out, and the 2012 budget has been called unrealistic by many.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.