The Costs of War Project

On average, over the course of the war in Afghanistan, 24 percent of active-duty women and 1.9 percent of active-duty men experienced sexual assault.

Between 2021 and 2025, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) allocated nearly $60 million to an initiative that leveraged AI to optimize its online influence.

U.S. attacks in Somalia have skyrocketed during Trump’s terms in office, reports @nickturse.bsky.social. theintercept.com/2026/10/21/t...

Most major male U.S. professional sports teams have worn camo uniforms. Militarized fashion consciously and unconsciously glorifies war.

Heidi took this photo, which we've used in our research, during a flyover in Gaza. Journalists should never be targets. Solidarity with Heidi and other reporters facing violence while covering conflict and war.

The U.S. has spent at least $3.4 trillion countering China militarily since 2012 following then-President Obama's "pivot to Asia". Anti-Asian and anti-Chinese American racism has intensified along with the militarized U.S.-China rivalry.

Read the research, "The Costs of Militarized Rivalry with China: A First Estimate". costsofwar.watson.brown.edu/paper/Milita...

U.S. Inflation jumped to 3.7% in September, fueled by higher energy costs due to the Iran war. Consumers have spent more than $1026 per household on higher fuel costs since the war began. iranwarcost.watson.brown.edu

Military operations in the Caribbean, and the Eastern Pacific cost the U.S. at least $4.7 billion since August 2025. The naval buildup alone has cost over $3.8 billion.

From 1989 to 1991, over 60,000 military Barbie dolls were sold on U.S. military bases around the world. Embedding military values into toys blurs the line between play and real-world militarism.

On Oct. 7, 2001, the so-called "War on Terror" began with the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. Twenty-five years later, more than 4.5 million people have died in post-9/11 war zones from the direct and indirect impacts of war. [THREAD] costsofwar.watson.brown.edu/paper/overview

These wars also contributed to a host of social and political costs: increased surveillance, loss of civil liberties and freedom of speech, indefinite detention and torture, police militarization and much more. [4/5] costsofwar.watson.brown.edu/costs/social...

On Oct. 7, 2001, the so-called "War on Terror" began with the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. Twenty-five years later, more than 4.5 million people have died in post-9/11 war zones from the direct and indirect impacts of war. [THREAD] costsofwar.watson.brown.edu/paper/overview

The post-9/11 wars that kicked off 25 years ago have cost the U.S. over $8 trillion dollars. That's public money that could have been spent on infrastructure, education, environmental protection and healthcare, among others. [2/5] costsofwar.watson.brown.edu/costs/economic

A month after we released figures on civilian deaths in Yemen due to U.S. strikes, and amid reports of over 1,700 civilians killed in war with Iran, officials say the Pentagon will hold a conference to discuss ways to limit civilian casualties in combat operations. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/01/u...

Since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, as many as 210,000 Iraqi civilians were killed, along with 4,599 U.S. service members. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/0...

A Navy official revealed that eight service members have attempted suicide on the U.S.S. Lincoln. [1/3] www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

High suicide rates mark the failure of the U.S. government and U.S. society to manage the mental health costs of our current conflicts, writes Thomas Howard Suitt, III. [2/3] costsofwar.watson.brown.edu/paper/high-s...