The US Department of Defense (DoD) will reduce the number of unpaid furlough days for its civilians by nearly half as it has managed to find savings elsewhere, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel announced on 6 August. "Thanks to the DoD's efforts to identify savings and help from Congress, we will reduce the total numbers of furlough days for DoD civilian employees from 11 to six," Hagel said. There are about 800,000 civilians paid by the DoD and about 120,000 are exempt from furloughs for various reasons. Pentagon officials determined they had to furlough the majority of the DoD's civilian employees after sequestration was implemented in March.
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