[1] The designation is made by a finding by the discretion of the Secretary of Defense, and triggers the implementation of a variety of wartime plans and preparations throughout the federal government, and within each of the military branches.

[2] Historically, the US Congress in its appropriations allocates the "base" budget of the US Department of Defense (DoD), that includes the routine costs of maintaining the military forces.

[5] In case of an unforeseen threat (like an actual war) Congress may consider a supplemental appropriations bill to increase the funding.

[5] Starting in 2011, under the Obama administration, Congress was asked to authorize war funds as a part of the regular appropriation bill.

At this point the formal use of the label Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) started to indicate that the authorized amounts were exempt from the Budget Control Act (BCA) limits on discretionary spending.