Military Operations

U.S. military forces are participating in several contingency operations in 1999, most notably in the Balkans and Southwest Asia. Through June 1999, the Pentagon reported about $4 billion in incremental costs for contingency operations for fiscal year 1999 and projected several billion dollars in additional costs through the end of the fiscal year. GAO believes that there is enough funding for all fiscal year 1999 contingency operations and that as much as $475 million of the funds originally appropriated for fiscal year 1999 contingency operations could be applied to next year's funding requirements. The availability of these funds is due primarily to the fact that combat operations in Kosovo ended in June 1999, rather than continuing to the end of the fiscal year, as expected. The Defense Department agrees that enough money is available to meet fiscal year 1999 costs but believes that only $138 million will be available to apply to fiscal year 2000 funding requirements.

GAO noted that: (1) based on its analysis of available funding and costs through June 1999, GAO believes that there is sufficient funding for all FY 1999 contingency operations costs and project that between $138 million and $475 million of the funds originally appropriated to fund FY 1999 contingency operations could be applied to FY 2000 funding requirements; (2) the availability of funds originally intended to fund FY 1999 contingency operations is due primarily to the fact that combat operations in Kosovo ended in June 1999 rather than continuing to the end of the fiscal year as anticipated; and (3) the Department of Defense agrees that there are sufficient funds to meet FY 1999 costs, but believes that only $138 million will be available to apply to FY 2000 funding requirements.