A report (.pdf) released last week by the Kaiser Family Foundation outlines the U.S. Department of Defense's (DoD) global health work, "present[ing] the first comprehensive analysis of DoD's activities and budget in this area" and "aim[ing] to contribute to discussions about DoD's role in global health, understandably regarded as controversial by many observers," a Lancet editorial states. "The report notes that DoD's work in global health is varied," "[n]o overarching policy or strategic document guides the department's global health-related efforts and there is no single budget for such activities," the Lancet writes. The report estimates that DoD's budget for global health work in FY 2012 was more than half a billion dollars, more "than the global health budgets for either the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the National Institutes of Health during the same period"; however, "the effectiveness of this investment is unclear," according to the editorial.