DOD: Environmental funding ‘largely shielded’ from sequestration

Sequestration has caused furloughs for almost 800,000 civilian employees at the Defense Department, but “funding for the Pentagon’s environmental initiatives is largely shielded” from the spending cuts, according to a top official.

“The Defense Department has a dedication to the environment that is wider in scope than a lot of people are familiar with,” John Conger, acting deputy undersecretary of defense for installations and environment, said at the Aspen Security Forum last week. “We spend $4 billion a year on our environmental programs.”