The Pentagon has announced it will begin furloughs of up to 11 days for most civilian employees starting July 8 at the rate of one day a week for most personnel. Notices are to be sent out to individuals during the period May 28 – June 5.
Managers have been granted authority to develop furlough procedures to minimize adverse impacts to mission and morale.
Defense secretary Chuck Hagel said in a memo to defense personnel that the department is currently $30 billion short in its operations and maintenance accounts, which includes payroll, though he qualified that furloughs were initially projected to be twice what is currently planned.
"Each of the military services has begun to significantly reduce training and maintenance of non-deployed operating forces – steps that will adversely impact military readiness," said Hagel. "Since deeper cuts to training and maintenance could leave our nation and our military exposed in the event of an unforeseen crisis, we have been forced to consider placing the majority of our civilian employees on administrative furlough."
