FIRST IN NATSEC DAILY — GROUPS BACK ‘COST OF WAR’ BILL: 

A coalition of 15 national security organizations and think tanks from across the political spectrum sent a joint letter today to Reps. NIKEMA WILLIAMS (D-Ga.), PETER MEIJER (R-Mich.) and SARA JACOBS (D-Calif.) endorsing the lawmakers’ Cost of War Act of 2022.

The bipartisan legislation would direct the Defense Department to post online “information relating to the cost to U.S. taxpayers of any overseas contingency operation conducted by the U.S. Armed Forces on or after September 18, 2001,” according to a congressional summary. The bill also mandates that the Pentagon “update such information not later than 90 days after the end of each fiscal year.”

In their letter, the groups write that since fiscal year 2017, “thanks to the leadership of the late Congressman JOHN LEWIS (D-Ga.), the Department of Defense has been required to provide annual per-taxpayer cost-estimates of U.S. engagement in the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, referred to as Section 1090 reports.” But now, Section 1090 needs “some sensible updates,” the groups argue.

“Two of the wars covered under Section 1090, Syria and Afghanistan, are considered officially over by the Pentagon. However, in addition to ongoing troop involvement in Iraq, the U.S. military continues to be engaged in counterterrorism efforts in 85 countries, according to Brown University’s Costs of War Project,” the letter states. “By expanding the activities covered by Section 1090 reports to capture ‘any overseas contingency operation conducted by the United States Armed Forces on or after September 18, 2001,’ H.R. 7147 will help provide a more accurate perspective on the cost of our military operations around the globe.”

The Cost of War Act of 2022, which NatSec Daily previously covered upon its unveiling in March, also is supported by the NAACP and progressive groups including Just Foreign Policy, VoteVets and Foreign Policy for America.