“Operations do not have a clear end date and are actively expanding. They carry significant human, financial, and strategic costs and risk,” wrote authors Hanna Homestead, a research analyst with the National Priorities Project, and Jennifer Kavanagh, the director of military analysis at Defense Priorities, a nonpartisan research group.
“American taxpayers, who are increasingly unable to afford basic needs, have a right to know how their tax dollars are spent,” they noted.
Homestead and Kavanagh observe that the largest costs might still be on the horizon.
“We expect that if comprehensive information were available, our cost estimate would likely increase significantly,” they wrote.
Kavanagh told The Intercept that the expenses were “enough to fund Medicaid for 500,000 people for an entire year.”
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