Summary: The Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) estimate of $47.5 billion for Operation Desert Shield/Storm funding requirements appears to be overstated. The estimate reflects (1) higher-than-actual costs incurred by the revolving fund accounts, (2) overestimated maintenance needs, (3) replacement of recoverable munitions, and (4) procurements that were canceled due to the operation's short duration. Foreign contributions to the Defense Cooperation Account should fully cover the operation's funding requirements; therefore, the $15 billion appropriated to the Persian Gulf Regional Defense Fund will not be needed. Foreign commitments for cash contributions total $48.3 billion, or about $800 million more than OMB's estimate; 88 percent of the amount pledged has already been contributed. Tracking incremental costs for the operation was difficult because the services only captured the total costs at the unit level and did not subtract the costs they would have normally incurred had there been no crisis in the Persian Gulf. These adjustments were made at the higher reporting levels. Also, cost data are aggregated into broad and general categories that make it hard to verify whether specific costs have been properly charged to the operation.
