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The Pentagon won\u2019t<\/span> disclose the price tag of its wars in the Western Hemisphere, but a new analysis by Brown University\u2019s Costs of War Project, provided exclusively to The Intercept, offers the first window onto the ballooning costs.<\/p>\n By the most cautious estimate, the U.S. military\u2019s intervention in Venezuela and attacks on boats in the Caribbean and the Eastern Pacific \u2014 Operations Absolute Resolve and Operation Southern Spear, respectively \u2014 have already cost taxpayers at least $4.7 billion.<\/p>\n The Costs of War analysis<\/a> is the most comprehensive accounting of the U.S. air, naval, and Special Operations expenses \u2014 including some troop deployments and munitions \u2014 used in the two campaigns between August 1, 2025, and March 31, 2026. The need for such an estimate stems from the refusal of the Department of War to provide a tally of costs to lawmakers<\/a> or The Intercept.<\/p>\n The researchers behind the Costs of War estimate say it\u2019s almost assuredly an undercount.<\/p>\n \u201cOperations do not have a clear end date and are actively expanding. They carry significant human, financial, and strategic costs and risk,\u201d wrote authors Hanna Homestead, a research analyst with the National Priorities Project, and Jennifer Kavanagh, the director of military analysis at Defense Priorities, a nonpartisan research group.<\/p>\n \u201cAmerican taxpayers, who are increasingly unable to afford basic needs, have a right to know how their tax dollars are spent,\u201d they noted.<\/p>\n Homestead and Kavanagh observe that the largest costs might still be on the horizon.<\/p>\n The expenses were \u201cenough to fund Medicaid for 500,000 people for an entire year.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n \u201cWe expect that if comprehensive information were available, our cost estimate would likely increase significantly,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n Kavanagh told The Intercept that the expenses were \u201cenough to fund Medicaid for 500,000 people for an entire year.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThough the Trump administration is right to focus more on the Western Hemisphere, most needs in the region are economic or require\u00a0investment in regional law enforcement. The United States is not clearly safer or more prosperous as a result of Operation Southern Spear or Operation Absolute Resolve,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Naval deployment<\/a> \u2014 which comprised the largest concentration of U.S. ships in the region since the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 \u2014 constituted the single largest expense, an estimated $3.8 billion. This includes the ever-growing cost of the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group which consists of the USS Iwo Jima, USS Fort Lauderdale, and USS San Antonio, which remain deployed in the Caribbean with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit and the USS Lake Erie guided-missile cruiser. Costs of War puts the daily operating costs of these ships at around $9 million per day.<\/p>\n Costs of War puts the daily operating costs of these ships at around $9 million per day.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n The steep Naval expenditures are followed by at least $616 million spent on the deployment of aircraft, including P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, F-35A Lightning II fighters, and MQ-9 Reaper drones used in both operations. The continuing daily cost of operating the at least 20 aircraft that are assumed to remain deployed in the region is $2.6 million.<\/p>\n Under Operation Southern Spear, the U.S. military has conducted 53 attacks on so-called drug boats since September 2025,\u00a0killing more than 180 civilians<\/a>. The latest strike, on April 19 in the Caribbean, killed three people. The Trump administration claims its victims are members of at least one of\u00a024 or more cartels and criminal gangs\u00a0with whom it claims to be at war but\u00a0refuses to name<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n
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