During his commencement speech at West Point last month, President Obama announced the creation of a $5 billion counterterrorism fund that would pay for American operations against terrorist around the world. Last Thursday, he said that the fund would be used for the first time to pay for 300 Special Operations soldiers to go to Iraq to consult in the fights against the Islamic State of Syria and Iraq.

“We’re prepared to create joint operation centers in Baghdad and northern Iraq to share intelligence and coordinate planning to confront the terrorist threat of ISIS,” Obama said. “Through our new Counterterrorism Partnerships Fund, we’re prepared to work with Congress to provide additional equipment. We have had advisors in Iraq through our embassy, and we’re prepared to send a small number of additional American military advisors -- up to 300 -- to assess how we can best train, advise, and support Iraqi security forces going forward.”

Related: Why Obama's $5 Billion Terrorism Fund Is Doomed

Obama’s vision for the fund is a resource in which American allies can invest in the fight against terrorism. The $5 billion investment by the United States is a show of good faith, a gesture to American allies that Washington is serious about continuing the fight against al Qaeda and other Islamic extremists.

The White House stated the fund “will provide the flexibility and resources required to respond to emerging needs as terrorist threats around the world continue to evolve. The CTPF will build on existing tools and authorities to allow the Administration to respond to evolving terrorist threats. It will allow us to pursue a more sustainable and effective approach to combating terrorism that focuses on empowering and enabling our partners around the globe.”

The administration claims the Iraqi mission will be the fund’s first. There’s just one problem: the fund does not yet exist, and neither the White House nor Congress has taken any action to create it.

“He is promising financial support to Iraq that he does not have. The $ 5 billion Counter-Terrorism Partnership Fund he is counting on does not exist. There is no such fund,” said Gordon Adams, a professor at American University and an expert of DOD’s budget.

“A Hot Mess”
Adams, who has years of experience working in the defense policy world and is the go-to expert on DOD’s budget, has been critical of the fund since it was announced. In an article in Foreign Policy published after Obama’s announcement, he called the fund a “hot mess.”

Adam’s outlines numerous problems with the fund. First, the administration gave Congress little notice that it was being created. Second, the fund “is stepping all over previously created authorities and accelerates a decade-long trend toward the militarization of U.S. foreign policy,” Adams wrote.