Defense Department says it will delay furloughs

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Defense Department will delay furlough notices for its civilian employees for about two weeks while officials analyze the impact of a new spending bill on planned budget cuts, the Pentagon said Thursday.

The delay comes as defense officials continue to wrangle over how many civilians should be exempt from the unpaid leave requirement, including how much of the U.S. intelligence community should be excluded. A senior defense official said Thursday that as much as 10 percent of the department’s 800,000 civilian workers overall could be exempt from the furloughs. The official said the exact numbers were still being worked out.