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How a Shutdown Affects National Security

Josh Hicks looks at how various government agencies with national security functions would operate during a government shutdown, looking at the agencies’ contingency plans from the 2011 shutdown threat.

“Military personnel would remain at work in the event of a shutdown… Only civilian defense employees would be subject to furloughs… TSA would have retained about 87 percent of its workforce under a 2011 shutdown, while about 84 percent of Coast Guard and CBP employees would have remained on the job. Topping the list would have been U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, at 98 percent, followed by the Secret Service, with 89 percent.”

“The most short-staffed DHS agencies would have been those that are lesser-known to the public. For example, the Science and Technology Directorate, which serves as the department’s research and development arm, would have kept only 3 percent of its 490-member workforce on duty.”

Crossposted from Wonk Wire.

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