Federal spending · FY2023
National Defense
Loading National Defense breakdown
Fetching FY2023 File B line items, totals and analysis from the backend.
Loading budget totals
Loading File B line items
Loading analysis
Building breakdown
Fetching FY2023 File B line items, totals and analysis from the backend.
The National Defense budget, representing $1.2 trillion in FY2023 outlays, is dedicated to safeguarding the United States from external threats and projecting its interests globally. Its core mission encompasses maintaining a robust military force, deterring aggression, responding to crises, and supporting national security objectives through a wide array of operations, personnel, and advanced technological capabilities. Success is measured not only by military readiness and operational effectiveness but also by the preservation of national sovereignty, the stability of international alliances, and the security of U.S. economic interests abroad. Key stewards include the Department of Defense, which manages the vast majority of these funds across its branches and numerous acquisition programs. Major program streams include personnel, operations and maintenance, procurement of advanced weapon systems, and research and development, all aimed at ensuring technological superiority and strategic advantage in a complex geopolitical landscape.
The problem
The critical status of National Defense spending, totaling $1.2T with a 7.1% trend increase, signals acute fiscal pressure that threatens broader budgetary sustainability and potentially crowds out other national priorities. This trajectory suggests a runaway-cost dynamic within major procurement programs, sustainment operations, or personnel readiness initiatives that is outpacing economic growth and revenue generation. The sheer scale of defense outlays, coupled with its upward trend, raises concerns about the long-term affordability of current strategic commitments and the potential for fiscal drag on non-defense sectors. Without significant strategic re-evaluation or efficiency gains, this spending level risks creating a fiscal overhang that could necessitate future trade-offs in other critical government functions or lead to unsustainable debt accumulation. The risk is not merely programmatic but systemic, impacting the nation's overall fiscal health and its capacity to respond to future economic or security challenges.
The solution
To address the critical fiscal pressures within National Defense, AI should be deployed to develop sophisticated program-of-record cost overrun early-warning systems. This involves analyzing contractor financial reporting, burn rates, and supply chain data to predict cost escalations before they become unmanageable. Furthermore, AI can model trade-offs between readiness and sustainment across diverse platforms and units, identifying optimal investment profiles that maximize operational capability within fiscal constraints. Specifically, AI-driven scenario planning can evaluate the fiscal implications of restructuring or canceling low-readiness procurement lines, providing data-driven recommendations for portfolio optimization. This approach moves beyond generic spending optimization to domain-specific analysis of defense acquisition, sustainment, and readiness, directly confronting the runaway-cost dynamics that define the critical status.
The biggest part of National Defense is Department of Defense-Military: $984.5B (84.5%).
How to read it: Tap a row to open what's inside. Colours match the chart above, and each row's share is its part of the row it sits under.
| Where it went | Gross outlays | Share | Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| $984.5B84.5% | 84.5% | ||
| $144.3B12.4% | 12.4% | ||
| $36.7B3.1% | 3.1% |