Civilian Pentagon employees, however, would not receive retroactive pay without a “legislative fix” by Congress, Little said.

ADVERTISEMENT

The Pentagon is still determining which civilian employees would work under a shutdown, depending on whether they are deemed essential employees.

Making preparations for a government shutdown has become a familiar exercise for the Pentagon and the rest of the federal government, after a shutdown was narrowly averted in 2011.

As the 2011 shutdown was looming, Pentagon officials said that roughly half of its civilians would be furloughed, a plan the Defense Department is likely to follow this time around.

Little said that all civilian employees would show up next Tuesday, the day the government would shut down if a funding measure isn’t passed. Those who aren’t exempt would then be sent home.

If the government shuts down, it would amount to a second round of furloughs for many Pentagon civilians this year, as most civilian employees were furloughed for six days in the summer under the Pentagon’s sequestration budget cuts.

— Carlo Muñoz contributed.