The Security State, by the Numbers

Fiscal year 2012 through 2026. National Defense (Budget Function 050) plus civilian federal law enforcement (DOJ + DHS), with the FY25–29 OBBBA reconciliation layered on. Nominal budget authority in $B; charts use the full 15-year window.

From — To

Defense (050)

Law Enforcement

Reconciliation

FY26 National Defense

~$1.01 T +13% YoY

First-ever trillion-dollar defense budget

FY26 Federal Law Enforcement

~$100 B +11% YoY

Incl. OBBBA reconciliation drawdown

FY26 Combined Security State

~$1.11 T +13% YoY

+54% nominal since FY12

OBBBA mandatory (DHS, FY25–29)

$170.7 B

Largest DHS supplemental ever

FY12–FY13 baseline. FY2012 was the pre-BCA-sequester peak ($678 B Defense 050, with ~$115 B of OCO still in the DoD base). The March 2013 sequester carved roughly $37 B out of DoD's $528 B in 051 budgetary resources — dropping National Defense 050 to ~$633 B, the deepest trough of the 15-year series.

FY18 inflection point. The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (P.L. 115-123) raised defense caps by $80 B in FY18 and $85 B in FY19, ending the sequestration era. National Defense (050) jumped from ~$634 B enacted in FY17 to ~$700 B enacted in FY18 — a one-year jump of ~10%, not matched again until the FY26 reconciliation surge.

FY26 inflection point. Defense crosses $1 T for the first time, stitching together $839 B regular DoD appropriations, $151 B OBBBA reconciliation (spent entirely in FY26), plus NNSA and other 054. Federal LE approaches $100 B effective as OBBBA pushes ICE and CBP multi-year funds into execution.

Fifteen-year trend — nominal dollars

Defense (blue, left axis) and Federal LE (orange, right axis) on independent $B scales so growth in both series is visible. Combined total shown on the left axis.

DOJ LE components (stacked)

FBI, DEA, ATF, USMS S&E, BOP.

DHS LE components (stacked)

CBP, ICE, USSS.

OBBBA reconciliation — FY25–29 allocations

Cumulative mandatory authority by program. Total $170.7B.

Top-line (FY12–FY26, full window)

FY	Defense (050)	Fed LE (effective)	Combined	CPI (FY12=100)
FY12	$678B	$42B	$720B	100.0
FY13	$633B	$42B	$675B	102.4
FY14	$608B	$43B	$651B	103.9
FY15	$586B	$45B	$631B	104.6
FY16	$615B	$46B	$661B	106.8
FY17	$634B	$48B	$682B	109.0
FY18	$700B	$49B	$749B	111.7
FY19	$716B	$51B	$767B	113.7
FY20	$757B	$53B	$810B	115.1
FY21	$741B	$52B	$793B	119.9
FY22	$778B	$55B	$833B	128.2
FY23	$858B	$59B	$917B	136.5
FY24	$886B	$61B	$947B	141.1
FY25	$892B	$90B	$982B	144.3
FY26	$1010B	$100B	$1110B	148.1

DOJ Law Enforcement components

FY	FBI	DEA	ATF	USMS (S&E)	BOP	Total
FY12	$8.10B	$2.02B	$1.15B	$1.17B	$6.64B	$19.08B
FY13	$8.03B	$2.02B	$1.15B	$1.17B	$6.60B	$18.97B
FY14	$8.36B	$2.02B	$1.18B	$1.16B	$6.88B	$19.60B
FY15	$8.48B	$2.02B	$1.20B	$1.23B	$7.00B	$19.93B
FY16	$8.80B	$2.46B	$1.24B	$1.23B	$6.95B	$20.68B
FY17	$9.45B	$2.49B	$1.26B	$1.25B	$7.14B	$21.59B
FY18	$9.01B	$2.10B	$1.26B	$1.30B	$7.10B	$20.77B
FY19	$9.41B	$2.23B	$1.32B	$1.37B	$7.25B	$21.58B
FY20	$9.30B	$2.40B	$1.35B	$1.45B	$7.79B	$22.29B
FY21	$9.70B	$2.50B	$1.45B	$1.50B	$7.90B	$23.05B
FY22	$10.40B	$3.10B	$1.60B	$1.55B	$7.80B	$24.45B
FY23	$10.80B	$2.50B	$1.75B	$1.70B	$8.30B	$25.05B
FY24	$10.70B	$2.70B	$1.63B	$1.71B	$8.40B	$25.13B
FY25	$10.70B	$3.00B	$1.61B	$1.71B	$8.30B	$25.32B
FY26	$10.67B	$3.01B	$1.57B	$1.75B	$8.40B	$25.40B

DHS Law Enforcement components

FY	CBP	ICE	USSS	Total
FY12	$11.70B	$5.50B	$1.65B	$18.85B
FY13	$11.70B	$5.52B	$1.60B	$18.82B
FY14	$11.80B	$5.20B	$1.66B	$18.66B
FY15	$12.60B	$5.96B	$1.67B	$20.23B
FY16	$12.40B	$6.10B	$1.92B	$20.42B
FY17	$13.60B	$6.20B	$2.00B	$21.80B
FY18	$14.06B	$7.10B	$2.01B	$23.17B
FY19	$14.30B	$7.60B	$2.18B	$24.08B
FY20	$18.12B	$8.37B	$2.40B	$28.89B
FY21	$15.30B	$8.30B	$2.40B	$26.00B
FY22	$15.50B	$8.10B	$2.40B	$26.00B
FY23	$17.50B	$8.40B	$2.90B	$28.80B
FY24	$17.40B	$9.70B	$3.10B	$30.20B
FY25	$20.20B	$10.40B	$3.20B	$33.80B
FY26	$21.00B	$11.00B	$3.30B	$35.30B

OBBBA reconciliation line items (FY25–29)

Program	Amount	Share
Border Wall Construction	$46.6B	27.3%
ICE Detention Capacity	$45.0B	26.4%
Other DHS Mandatory	$30.2B	17.7%
ICE Enforcement & Deportation	$29.9B	17.5%
CBP Personnel (BP agents + FLETC)	$7.8B	4.6%
Border Security Technology	$6.2B	3.6%
CBP Facilities & Checkpoints	$5.0B	2.9%

Methodology & sources

National Defense (Budget Function 050): Includes 051 DoD Military (enacted discretionary + OCO/supplementals), 053 NNSA atomic-energy defense activities, and 054 other defense-related (defense-related activities at other agencies). Totals are reported by CBO and the Treasury Monthly Statement of Budget Authority. FY2026 reflects the base DoD appropriations plus the P.L. 119-21 (OBBBA) reconciliation add-on for DoD ($151B, allocated primarily to FY26).

Federal Law Enforcement (effective): A bmrlabs construct summing enacted regular appropriations for DOJ law-enforcement components (FBI, DEA, ATF, USMS S&E, BOP) and DHS law-enforcement components (CBP, ICE, USSS). FY2025 onward adds scored OBBBA reconciliation outlays attributable to each fiscal year (primarily DHS border and immigration enforcement). Excludes state/local grants, asset forfeiture, and Federal Prisoner Detention.

CPI: CPI-U FY averages (BLS), chained to FY2012 = 100. Used for real-terms comparisons in the Real Growth (Indexed) view.

OBBBA reconciliation: One Big Beautiful Bill Act (P.L. 119-21) — FY25 through FY29 cumulative authority. Line-item allocations from CBO scoring tables and conference-report breakdowns. Breakdown includes border wall, ICE detention capacity, other DHS mandatory, ICE enforcement and deportation, CBP personnel (Border Patrol agents and FLETC), border security technology, and CBP facilities/checkpoints.

All figures: nominal budget authority in billions of U.S. dollars unless explicitly indexed. Data compiled April 2026 from CRS reports, enacted public laws, and DoD/DHS/DOJ Congressional Budget Justifications. See /data for the machine-readable CSV and /report for the full source bibliography.