Sources
Every number on WarCosts can be traced to a primary source. We use official government reports, peer-reviewed academic research, and established investigative organizations. Below is the complete list of sources, organized by type, with descriptions of what data each provides.
Primary Data Sources
These are the core sources that provide the majority of our data.
The most comprehensive accounting of post-9/11 war costs, casualties, and displacement. Run by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs. Principal investigators: Neta Crawford and Catherine Lutz.
Data used: Total War on Terror costs ($8T+), post-9/11 casualty estimates, displacement figures, veteran care projections, interest on war debt calculations.
The research arm of the United States Congress. Produces authoritative, nonpartisan reports on defense policy, military operations, and spending.
Data used: US military casualties (RL32492), costs of major wars (RL33110), military operations histories, defense budget analysis, constitutional war powers analysis.
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute tracks global military expenditures since 1949. The gold standard for international military spending comparison.
Data used: Annual military spending by country, GDP share calculations, global spending comparisons, trend data.
Tracks international transfers of major conventional weapons. Uses Trend Indicator Values (TIVs) for consistent comparison.
Data used: US arms sales data, weapons transfer volumes by country and region.
The official source for US military casualty records, maintained by the Department of Defense.
Data used: Battle deaths, total military deaths, wounded figures for all conflicts. The most authoritative source for US military casualty data.
Government Sources
Official US government reports, databases, and budget documents.
Annual budget justification documents, including service-level breakdowns, procurement plans, and R&D budgets.
Data used: Detailed budget breakdowns by category, service branch, and program.
Historical federal budget data dating back to 1940, including defense outlays as a share of GDP and total spending.
Data used: Historical defense spending trends, GDP share calculations, discretionary spending comparisons.
Comprehensive database of US foreign aid disbursements by country, year, sector, and type.
Data used: Military vs. economic aid breakdowns, foreign military financing data, country-level aid figures.
Official annual inventory of US military installations worldwide, including size, personnel, and replacement value.
Data used: Overseas base counts, installation data, global military footprint.
The official source for federal spending data, including defense contracts, grants, and direct payments.
Data used: Defense contractor spending data, contract values by company, procurement spending.
Publishes the CPI-U (Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers), used for all inflation adjustments.
Data used: All inflation adjustments throughout the site use BLS CPI-U data.
The VA's annual report on veteran suicide, including rates by age, gender, era, and method.
Data used: Veteran suicide statistics, trend data, demographic breakdowns.
Congressional watchdog that audits federal agencies and programs, including extensive DOD oversight.
Data used: Pentagon audit findings, weapons program cost overruns, waste and fraud data.
Internal watchdog for the Department of Defense. Produces audits, investigations, and evaluations.
Data used: Audit failure data, accounting adjustment figures, waste and fraud documentation.
Oversaw US reconstruction spending in Afghanistan. Documented billions in waste, fraud, and abuse.
Data used: Afghanistan reconstruction costs, waste examples, lessons learned reports.
Academic Sources
Peer-reviewed research and academic institutions.
Professor of anthropology and author of "Base Nation: How U.S. Military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World." Leading researcher on overseas basing.
Data used: Overseas base counts (broader definition), base impact analysis.
Research on employment effects of government spending by sector. Key study: "The U.S. Employment Effects of Military and Domestic Spending Priorities."
Data used: Jobs per billion dollars by sector (military vs. education vs. healthcare), used in Jobs Calculator.
Analyzes the federal budget with a focus on how military spending compares to other priorities. Produces the annual "Trade-Offs" analysis.
Data used: Discretionary spending breakdowns, opportunity cost calculations, tax receipt methodology.
Produces the annual "Where Your Income Tax Money Really Goes" pie chart, which includes military-related spending across all agencies.
Data used: Alternative military spending share calculations (including hidden costs).
Investigative & Advocacy Sources
Established investigative organizations with documented methodologies.
London-based investigative journalism organization. Runs the most comprehensive drone strike casualty database.
Data used: Drone strike counts and casualty figures by country (Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Afghanistan).
Maintains a database of documented civilian deaths from violence in Iraq since 2003. Uses cross-referenced media reports, hospital records, and official data.
Data used: Iraqi civilian death counts — the most rigorous documented count available.
Tracks civilian harm from international airstrikes across multiple conflicts. Uses incident-level documentation.
Data used: Civilian casualties from US and coalition airstrikes in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Somalia, and Yemen.
Investigates government waste, corruption, and abuse of power, with extensive coverage of defense spending.
Data used: Revolving door data, contractor waste and fraud, weapons program failures.
Tracks money in US politics, including defense industry lobbying and campaign contributions.
Data used: Defense lobbying spending, campaign contributions by defense contractors, revolving door data.
Source Hierarchy
When sources conflict, we prioritize:
- Official government records (DoD, CRS, OMB) — most authoritative for US data
- Peer-reviewed academic research (Brown, SIPRI) — most comprehensive analysis
- Established investigative organizations (IBC, Airwars, TBIJ) — best civilian data
- Investigative journalism (major outlets with documented sourcing)
International & Media Sources
Additional sources used for context, verification, and international data.
UN humanitarian data on displacement, casualties, and aid requirements in conflict zones.
Data used: Refugee and displacement figures, humanitarian impact data.
International humanitarian law expertise and conflict impact data.
Data used: Laws of war context, humanitarian impact assessments.
Nonpartisan budget analysis for Congress, including defense spending projections.
Data used: Long-term defense budget projections, fiscal impact analysis.
Nuclear weapons data, intelligence budget analysis, and government secrecy research.
Data used: Nuclear arsenal data, intelligence budget estimates, classified program analysis.
Academic network of 50+ scholars studying the costs and consequences of post-9/11 wars.
Data used: Peer-reviewed research on indirect deaths, displacement, civil liberties impacts.
Data Integrity Principles
🎯 Conservative Estimates
When sources provide ranges, we typically use the lower or midpoint estimate. We prefer undercounting to overcounting. For civilian casualties especially, documented counts (like Iraq Body Count) are almost certainly lower than actual figures.
💱 Inflation Adjustment
All historical dollar amounts are adjusted to 2024 dollars using BLS CPI-U (Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers). For each conflict, we use the midpoint year or year of peak spending as the base year for adjustment.
✅ Cross-Referencing
Major figures are cross-referenced across multiple sources. If CRS reports different casualty numbers than DMDC, we note the discrepancy and explain which figure we use and why. Transparency about uncertainty is part of our methodology.
🔄 Regular Updates
Data is updated on different schedules: Iran War data daily, SIPRI data annually (April publication), CRS reports as published, and historical data when new research emerges. Last comprehensive update: March 2026.
What We Don't Include (And Why)
- Classified programs: Black budget programs (~$30B/yr) are acknowledged but cannot be sourced in detail. We use aggregate figures from DNI public disclosures.
- Indirect economic costs: War disrupts trade, raises oil prices, and redirects capital. These macroeconomic effects are real but difficult to attribute precisely, so we exclude them from headline figures.
- Psychological costs: PTSD prevalence and intergenerational trauma are documented but not monetized in our cost figures. The VA spending figures capture treatment costs but not the full human toll.
- Environmental damage abroad: Depleted uranium contamination, burn pit pollution, and infrastructure destruction cause long-term health effects. We note these qualitatively but don't assign dollar values.
- Opportunity costs: What $11.3 trillion could have purchased in education, healthcare, or infrastructure is explored in our Opportunity Cost analysis but not included in war cost totals.
Sources We Don't Use (And Why)
Think tank reports with undisclosed defense industry funding: Many Washington think tanks receive significant funding from defense contractors. We note this when referencing their work and prefer independent academic sources.
Social media and unverified reports: We don't use casualty figures from social media, unverified claims, or single-source reports without corroboration.
Leaked classified documents: While potentially valuable, we restrict our sources to publicly available, legally obtained data to maintain credibility and legal standing.
Self-reported government figures without independent verification: When governments (including the US) report their own casualty inflictions or program successes, we cross-reference with independent sources before using the figures.
How to Verify Our Data
Every figure on WarCosts can be independently verified. Here's how:
- Check the source citation — Every data point includes its source. Click through to the original document.
- Download our raw data — Our Downloads page provides JSON files with source references for every figure.
- Cross-reference with primary sources — Visit CRS, SIPRI, Brown University, or DoD directly. Our figures should match or be conservative compared to their published data.
- Check our methodology — Our Methodology page explains every calculation, adjustment, and assumption.
- Report discrepancies — Found an error? We want to know. Accuracy is our highest priority.
Related Pages
Methodology Quick Reference
War costs: We follow the Brown University Costs of War methodology, which includes direct appropriations, DOD base budget increases, veteran care (current and projected), interest on war borrowing, Homeland Security costs, and State Department war-related spending.
Casualty figures: US military casualties from DMDC (most authoritative). Civilian casualties from IBC, Airwars, and Brown University (documented, conservative counts).
Military spending: Annual figures from SIPRI and OMB. Historical data from CRS. All adjusted to 2024 dollars using BLS CPI-U.
Arms transfers: SIPRI Arms Transfers Database using Trend Indicator Values (TIVs) for consistent cross-country comparison.
Foreign aid: USAID Foreign Aid Explorer for disbursement data; CRS for policy analysis.
For complete methodology, see our Methodology page.
How to Cite WarCosts Data
For Academic Papers (APA)
WarCosts. (2026). [Dataset title]. WarCosts.org. https://warcosts.org/[page]. Data compiled from [primary source].For Journalism
According to WarCosts.org, which compiles data from [CRS/SIPRI/Brown University], [statistic].For Social Media
Source: WarCosts.org | Data from [primary source]We strongly encourage citing the underlying primary source alongside WarCosts. Our value is aggregation and presentation; the data belongs to the original researchers and institutions.
Our Open Data Commitment
WarCosts is committed to making military spending data freely accessible. We believe that information about how public money is spent should never be behind a paywall, require a login, or demand payment.
All of our aggregated datasets are available for download in JSON format on our Downloads page. The data is CORS-enabled for direct API access from web applications. No registration, no API key, no terms of service beyond simple attribution.
We particularly welcome use by: academic researchers studying defense policy, journalists investigating military spending, educators teaching about government budgets, developers building data-driven applications, and any citizen who wants to understand where their tax dollars go.
This page was last updated in July 2026. Sources are reviewed quarterly and updated as new data becomes available. If you are aware of a data source we should include, or if you find a discrepancy between our data and a primary source, please let us know. Accuracy is our highest priority — above narrative, above impact, above everything else.
WarCosts is a project of TheDataProject.ai. All aggregated data is freely available on our Downloads page.