FY2022 NDAA: President’s Budget Request
November 19, 2021
The annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) typically authorizes discretionary funding for
nearly all Department of Defense (DOD) programs and for certain other defense-related activities. While
the NDAA does not appropriate funding (i.e., provide budget authority), the legislation establishes or
continues defense programs, projects, or activities, and provides guidance on how appropriated funds are
to be used in carrying out those efforts. (The statutory requirement for annual authorization of
appropriations for defense programs is codified at 10 U.S.C. §114.)
The FY2022 President’s budget requested more than $6 trillion in discretionary and mandatory funding,
of which $768.3 billion (12.4%) was for activities within the national defense budget function. The latter
is $14.3 billion (1.9%) more than the FY2021 level, excluding funds provided by the Emergency Sec urity
Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021 (P.L. 117-31).
National defense is one of 20 major functions used by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to
organize budget data and the largest in terms of discretionary funding. Identified by the numerical
notation 050, the national defense budget function is the broadest measure by which the U.S. government
categorizes defense funding. The function comprises the following subfunctions:
Department of Defense (DOD)-Military (identified by the notation 051), which
includes military and intelligence activities of the DOD;
Atomic energy defense activities (053), which includes nuclear weapons and reactor
programs of the Department of Energy; and
Defense-related activities (054), which includes national security activities of several
other agencies, such as Federal Bureau of Investigation counterintelligence activities.
Historically, DOD has accounted for the bulk—approximately 95%—of funding within the national
defense budget function. For FY2022, the Administration requested $727.9 billion for DOD-Military
(11.7% of the federal budget); $29.9 billion for atomic energy defense activities (0.5%); and $10.5 billion
for defense-related activities (0.2%) (see Figure 1).
