The US government-run American Forces Press Service reports that “the Defense Department and other government agencies responsible for national security will carry out their missions despite the government shutdown, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said [in Seoul, Korea] today.”

“The secretary, traveling in the Asia-Pacific this week for high-level meetings here and in Japan, sat down with reporters traveling with him to explain what is known, and what isn’t, as nonessential government services are temporarily mothballed.”

“The secretary said he left last night’s state dinner honoring the U.S.-South Korea alliance, at which he spoke, ‘a little early’ for a teleconference with Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter, comptroller Bob Hale and acting general counsel Robert Taylor. During that conversation, he said, the four discussed possibilities for minimizing the shutdown’s effects on some 400,000 civilian employees who will be furloughed.”