Pentagon to warn 800,000 civilian employees

WASHINGTON: The Defense Department is preparing to notify its 800,000 civilian employees that some of them may have to take unpaid leave next year if lawmakers can't agree on a budget deal.

While the notification would go out to all the Pentagon's civilian workers, only a portion of them would be likely to face eventual furloughs under the automatic spending cuts known as sequestration, said the official, who asked not to be identified discussing personnel plans.

The potential effect on civilian defense workers gained attention, when Senator Lindsey Graham said defense secretary Leon Panetta told him he'd have to send out 'layoff notices' that would amount to 'shooting the Defense Department in the head'.

Panetta "is worried to death that if we don't fix the sequestration, we're going to destroy the finest military in the world," Graham said.