Further more...
Prepared Statement For the House Budget Committee on the FY 2004 Defense Budget Request
This FY 2004 defense budget is indeed large and it will grow larger, even without factoring in likely costs for continuing the war on terrorism.
But by historical standards, this budget is a sustainable defense burden-one that is significantly less than the burden we sustained throughout the Cold War. Moreover, this is a wartime defense budget needed to help us wage the global war against terror. FY 2004 DoD outlays will be 3.4 percent of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 16.6 percent of total federal outlays-both
WELL BELOW THEIR LEVELS AT ANY TIME DURING THE COLD WAR.
http://www.defenselink.mil/speeches/...ecdef0044.html