The US Military Academy at West Point was founded in 1802. In 2002, there were 20,882 active-duty military personnel and 11,220 civilian personnel stationed in New York, more than half of whom were at Fort Drum. In 2002, New York firms received more than $3.4 billion in defense contracts.
According to the 2000 Census, there were 1,361,164 veterans of US military service in the state. Allowing for overlapping (some veterans served in more than one war), the statistics for living veterans of wartime service were as follows: World War II, 332,779; Korea, 196,018; Vietnam era, 364,061; 1990–2000 (including the Persian Gulf War), 104,128. Veterans' benefits totaling nearly $2.7 billion were paid to New Yorkers during 2002.
In 2000, the New York State Police employed 4,112 sworn officers.