2009 Fiscal Year Department of State Budget totals $39.5 billion

The 2009 Fiscal Year budget released today by the White House sets aside $39.5 billion for the Department of State (DoS) and other international programs.

$400 million of the budget will be allocated to U.S. personnel executing various functions in Iraq. Palestinians will receive $75 million to support the Fatah faction there while Lebanon will receive $142 million to support the western-backed Saniora government whose authority is being challenged by powerful opposition. The DoS says that Pakistan will receive $830 million “to achieve stability, development, and democracy goals…”

Israel will receive $2.55 billion in the first installment of a ten year plan to deliver $30 billion there. Israel will be by far the largest receiver of funds in the 2009 FY DoS Budget.

In Latin America, the DoS is setting aside $550 million to support the Merida Initiative which they say is aimed to address security concerns such as drug trafficking.

The DoS also announced plans to introduce 1,076 new positions within the department to provide staff with more education and training. 300 of these positions will be reserved for language instructors specifically to train personnel in “hard languages” such as Arabic, Farsi, and Chinese.

This year’s budget sees a $3.3 billion increase from the 2008 FY DoS budget which totaled $36.2 billion.