Funding our National Treasures
A $35B transfer of funds from the Department of Defense would work wonders
I asked ChatGPT about the impact of transferring $35B to the National Parks, the US Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and others.
F-35 jet, U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Donald R. Allen, Wikipedia
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RP: What does the Department of Defense spend per day? How is it spent?
ChatGPT: As of the most recent data (FY 2024), the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has a total budget of approximately $842 billion. That breaks down to roughly:
💵 Daily Spending
$842 billion / 365 days = ~$2.31 billion per day
🧾 How That Money Is Spent (Broad Breakdown)
Here’s a general breakdown of how that daily $2.31 billion is used:
1. Personnel – ~22% ($505 million/day)
Covers salaries, healthcare, housing allowances, pensions, and other benefits for:
Active-duty military members (~1.3 million)
Reserve and National Guard (~800,000)
Civilian DoD employees (~750,000)
2. Operations and Maintenance – ~28% ($647 million/day)
Pays for the daily running costs of the military:
Training, fuel, supplies
Repairs and maintenance of ships, aircraft, vehicles, bases
Military base utilities and services
3. Procurement – ~20% ($462 million/day)
Used to purchase weapons systems, vehicles, aircraft, ships, and other equipment, including:
Fighter jets (like the F-35 at $85-100 million each)
Submarines and warships
Missile defense systems
Drones and cyberwarfare tools
4. Research, Development, Test & Evaluation (RDT&E) – ~14% ($323 million/day)
Invests in future military technologies:
Hypersonic weapons
AI and autonomous systems
Space systems
Cybersecurity tools
5. Nuclear Forces (via Department of Energy) – ~4% ($92 million/day)
Although housed in the Department of Energy, this spending is DoD-directed and funds:
Nuclear weapons maintenance
Stockpile modernization
National labs
6. Construction and Infrastructure – ~2% ($46 million/day)
Funds:
New base construction
Renovation of facilities
Environmental cleanup of military sites
7. Other / Miscellaneous – ~10% ($231 million/day)
Covers:
Foreign military aid and training
Counterterrorism programs
Classified/black budget projects
Space Force (~$30B annually)
📌 Notes:
These are averages and the actual daily spending varies based on operations (e.g., war, disaster relief, or procurement cycles).
Emergency or supplemental funding (like for Ukraine or disaster response) is not always included in the base budget and can increase daily totals.
RP: What would happen if the DOD donated $35 billion to fund National Parks, the Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, as well as other federal agencies charged with protecting America's natural spaces? Would this funding cut impact the military's preparedness?
ChatGPT: If the Department of Defense (DoD) redirected $35 billion—about 4.2% of its FY2024 budget—to fund federal land and conservation agencies, the result would be transformative for those agencies and only minimally disruptive to military preparedness, depending on how the funds were reallocated within the DoD.
Sunrise at Arches National Park, m01229 via Wikimedia Commons
🌲 What $35 Billion Would Mean for America's Public Lands
To put this in perspective:
Agency FY2024 Budget % Increase from DoD Transfer
National Park Service (NPS) ~$3.8 billion ~921%
U.S. Forest Service (USFS) ~$9.4 billion ~372%
Bureau of Land Management (BLM) ~$1.6 billion ~2,087%
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) ~$1.9 billion ~1,842%
With just $35 billion, we could:
Eliminate the NPS deferred maintenance backlog (~$22 billion).
Hire tens of thousands of rangers, firefighters, scientists, and restoration crews.
Dramatically expand public access, fire mitigation, and wildlife recovery efforts.
Restore millions of acres of degraded forest and grassland.
Modernize park infrastructure and climate resilience projects.
This funding would change the trajectory of conservation in the U.S. for decades.
🪖 Would It Hurt Military Preparedness?
Short Answer: Not significantly, if carefully managed.
$35 billion is:
Less than the Pentagon’s unspent funds in some years.
Roughly what the DoD spends every 15 days.
Smaller than cost overruns on major systems like the F-35 fighter program.
Key Points:
No warfighting capabilities would have to be eliminated if the cut came from areas like:
Redundant weapons programs
Wasteful contracts (GAO often finds $10B+ in annual DoD waste)
Overbuilt infrastructure and underused bases
The U.S. would still outspend the next 10–15 countries combined on defense, even with the $35B cut.
Possible Political Concerns:
Defense contractors and hawkish members of Congress would resist.
Claims of risk to “readiness” would likely be made—but DoD readiness is often used as a political shield for bloated spending.
However, the cut would be relatively modest in Pentagon terms and wouldn't reduce troop levels, nuclear deterrence, or key defense capabilities.
🧭 Broader Impact: National Security Through Stewardship
You could also argue that this improves national security in a broader sense:
Better-managed public lands enhance climate resilience.
Preventing wildfires protects lives, homes, and water supplies.
Access to nature improves veteran and public mental health.
Healthy ecosystems reduce long-term disaster response costs.
✅ Final Thought
A one-time $35 billion transfer from the DoD to conservation agencies wouldn’t undermine America’s military—but it would be revolutionary for the protection, restoration, and accessibility of the nation’s public lands.
The Wave. Credit BLM Utah, via Wikipedia
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