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All military personnel will continue on normal duty status but about half of the Defense Department's 800,000 civilian employees will be placed on unpaid leave. All military activity not critical to national security will be stopped during the shutdown, according to Pentagon officials. They also say military personnel, who are paid twice a month, would get their Oct. 1 paychecks but might see their Oct. 15 paychecks delayed if no funding deal is set by Oct. 7. Also, most Department of Veterans Affairs services will continue, including the operation of VA hospitals.
President Obama signed a bill at the dawn of the government shutdown, and it could significantly increase the number of non-uniformed military employees exempt from furlough during the shutdown. So far, the Defense Department has sent no signals on how it would choose to enact the provisions.
Lower chamber legislators could not get two-thirds approval for one bill to fund the National Park Service, and another bill to get the Veterans Affairs Department fiscal 2014 money. AFGE, NTEU and Democrat lawmakers rallied on Capitol Hill Tuesday to turn up the heat on Congress to reopen the government.
The government of Turkey says it might still reconsider its decision to co-produce a long-range air and missile defense system with a Chinese firm currently under U.S. sanctions, but officials said they are not obligated to adhere to the U.S. blacklist. Turkey, a member of the NATO alliance, announced recently it had chosen the FD-2000 missile defense system from China Precision Machinery Import and Export Corp over rival systems from Russian, U.S. and European firms.
After Last week's high level meeting with India, the White House says India-United States defense cooperation and engagement has increased significantly over the past decade, in step with the overall deepening of India-U.S. relations. "We continue to work toward achieving the full vision of expanded defense cooperation set forth in the 2005 New Framework Agreement, " the White House said in a statement. The close U.S. relationship with India has been a point of contention for some in Pakistan --which the U.S. has also sought closer ties with. Pakistan and India have a long history of distrust.
Pentagon guidance says military members will report to work as normal under a government shutdown, and most employees working under service contracts would be unaffected as well. But about half the civilian workforce would be told to stay home without pay.
The Air Force says budget uncertainty will mean a lot of delayed contracting decisions in the first portion of 2014. Meanwhile, the service is hurriedly trying to spend every last dollar in its 2013 procurement accounts.
Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel participated in the U.S.-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Strategic Cooperation Forum Thursday in New York along with Secretary of State John Kerry. During the meeting, Hagel reiterated the United States' commitment to the region and underscored how collaborative approaches toward regional defense made the Middle East more secure and stable. He also discussed recent progress on ballistic missile defense.
On this week's edition of Bgov's Capital Impact show, host Allen Scott looks at the Air Force's budget problems and the effect of sequestration on weapons systems.
Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) has put confirmation of Deborah Lee James on hold until she gets answers about possible cuts to the A-10 Thunderbolt attack fighter fleet.
As investigators fill in the blanks regarding Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis, Deputy Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said the department will complete three separate reviews in late December, including internal and independent assessments of base safety procedures as well as the security clearance process. Carter said during a Pentagon briefing the "Bottom line is, we need to know how an employee was able to bring a weapon and ammunition onto a DoD installation."
For the second time, the court-martial of a U.S. Army general facing sexual assault charges has been postponed. The trial of Brig. Gen. Jeffrey A. Sinclair had been scheduled to begin at Fort Bragg next Monday. It was announced Tuesday that military Judge Col. James Pohl rescheduled the trial for Jan. 7 after a request from Sinclair's defense team. Unresolved issues are being worked out according to his civilian lawyer.
We listen to highlights from a House Armed Services Committee hearing: "Planning for Sequestration in Fiscal Year 2014 and Perspectives of the Military Services on the Strategic Choices and Management Review."
CAPT James Kilby, deputy for Ballistic Missile Defense, AEGIS, and Destroyers in the Navy's Surface Warfare Directorate, joins host Sean McCalley on this week's Agency of the Month program to discuss the agency's next-gen AEGIS system.