DHAKA: The US government shutdown will undermine American credibility abroad and lead allies to question its commitment to treaty obligations, the US defence chief warned on Tuesday as he prepared to put 400,000 civilian workers on unpaid leave.

US defence secretary Chuck Hagel, who was visiting South Korea to celebrate the two nations’ 60-year-old mutual defence treaty, said Pentagon lawyers were analyzing a new law passed by Congress to see if additional civilian workers could be spared unpaid leave.

But for the moment, when the department’s 800,000 civilians report to work on Tuesday, approximately half will be told they are not exempted by law from the government shutdown and asked to go home, Hagel told reporters, according to The Jerusalem Post.

The Pentagon and other US government agencies began to implement shutdown plans on Tuesday after Congress failed to reach a deal to fund the federal government in the new fiscal year beginning October 1.

BDST: 1953 HRS, OCT 01, 2013
RoR/GCP