Homeland Defense became a major concern after September 11, 2001. It's been expensive. Substantial military forces were mobilized for the effort, in addition to a lot of overtime pay for local and state police and private security personnel. Some 64,000 National Guard and reserve troops were mobilized, costing nearly $3 billion so far. The length of the mobilization is causing fiscal hardship for the part time soldiers, as most of them take a big cut in pay when mobilized. Many employers are having a difficult time operating with key people away. It's cost over half a billion dollars to provide combat air patrols over the United States, and to keep more aircraft on alert at 26 air bases. The local costs have not been compiled, but probably amount to several billion dollars. The cost of Afghanistan operations and increased anti-terrorist operations over seas is nearly $2 billion a month.