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Table 11-1. FEDERAL RESOURCES BY FUNCTION—Continued
(In billions of dollars)

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Revenue estimates for proposed legislation affecting tax expenditures are not directly comparable to estimates for current law tax expenditures, because the current law estimates do not reflect behavioral effects.

* $50 million or less.

1 Proposed legislation will supplement budget authority with receipts (estimated at $0.5 billion in 1998).

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Through its budget, the Federal Government in recent years has provided about $265 billion a year to defend the United States, its citizens, and its allies, and to protect and advance American interests around the world. National defense programs and activities are designed to ensure that the United States maintains strong, ready, and modern military forces that will promote U.S. objectives in peacetime, deter and prevent war, and successfully defend our Nation and its interests in wartime, in conjunction with our allies, when necessary.

Over the past half-century, our defense program has deterred both conventional and nuclear attack upon U.S. soil and brought a successful end to the Cold War. Today, the United States is the sole remaining superpower in the world, with unique military capabilities unsurpassed by any nation. As the world's best trained and best equipped fighting force, the U.S. military continues to provide the strength and leadership that serves as the foundation upon which to promote peace, freedom, and prosperity around the globe.

Again and again in the past three years, U.S. troops have demonstrated the continued readiness and strength required to achieve these objectives:

Our forces maintain a continuous presence in the Persian Gulf, providing security for a volatile region of the world; in 1994, rapid deployment of additional U.S. forces to the Persian Gulf turned back a potential Iraqi threat to Kuwait;

With the 82nd Airborne division en route to Haiti, we forced the Cedras regime to relinquish power, and the peaceful introduction of U.S. forces to the island established a secure environment for the Haitian people to find freedom and re-create a democratic government;

• Hundreds of thousands of lives in Rwanda and Somalia were saved through U.S. humanitarian missions; and,

• By helping to enforce United Nations mandates in the former Yugoslavia and by subsequently deploying a substantial U.S. force under NATO command, the United States is helping to successfully implement the Dayton Peace Agreement.

Department of Defense

The Department of Defense (DOD) budget provides for the pay, training, operation and maintenance, and support of U.S. military forces, and for the development and acquisition of modern equipment to:

• Assure that the U.S. military remains the world's most ready and capable force;

• Sustain U.S. defense forces at levels sufficient to meet post-Cold War challenges; • Give U.S. forces the military hardware that employs the best available technologies; and

• Assure the Nation's security by seeking arms control agreements, reducing weapons of mass destruction while preventing their proliferation, and combating terrorism.

To achieve these objectives, DOD supports these capabilities:

Conventional Forces.-The Nation needs conventional forces to deter aggression and, when that fails, to respond to it. Funds to support these forces cover pay and benefits for military personnel; the purchase, operation, and maintenance of conventional systems such as tanks, aircraft and ships; the purchase of ammunition and spare parts; and training. Major acquisitions in the President's budget plan include combat vehicle and aircraft enhancements for the Army, such as the Abrams tank and the Apache helicopter; ships for the Navy, such as DDG-51 destroyers and the New Attack Submarine; aircraft for the Air Force, such as F-15E multi-role fighters and a JSTARS surveillance aircraft; and the V-22 aircraft for the Marine Corps.

Mobility Forces.-Mobility forces provide the airlift and sealift that transport military personnel and materiel throughout the world. They play a critical role in current U.S. defense strategy and are a vital component of America's response to contingencies that range from humanitarian relief efforts to major regional conflicts. Airlift aircraft provide a flexible, rapid way to deploy forces and supplies quickly to distant regions, while sealift ships allow the deployment of large numbers of heavy forces together with their fuel and supplies. The mobility program also includes

prepositioning of equipment and supplies at sea or on land near the location of a potential crisis. This allows U.S. forces that must respond rapidly to crises overseas to quickly draw upon these prepositioned items. Major acquisitions in this area include the C-17 strategic airlift aircraft and large medium-speed roll on/roll off ships.

Strategic Forces.-Funding for nuclear forces is at its lowest level in over 30 years. Nonetheless, strategic forces are an important component of our capability. Within treaty-imposed limits, the primary mission of strategic forces is to deter nuclear attack against the United States and its allies, and to convince potential adversaries that they will never gain a nuclear advantage against the United States. The budget enhances land, air, and sea-based forces by supporting service life extension programs for the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile, continued modifications to B-2 bombers, and procurement of additional Trident II (D-5) submarine launched ballistic missiles.

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Defense-Related Activities

Other activities in this function that support national defense include programs of the: • Coast Guard, which supports the defense mission through training, aids to navigation, international icebreaking, equipment maintenance, and support of the Coast Guard Reserve;

• Federal Bureau of Investigation, which conducts counterintelligence and surveillance activities;

• Maritime Administration, which helps maintain a fleet of active, military-useful, privately owned U.S. vessels that would be available in times of national emergency; and the

• Selective Service System, which is initiating a Service to America program that will give almost two million young Americans a year the chance to volunteer for Americorps or the Armed Services.

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