Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter it is looking more likely that $45 billion in automatic defense cuts under sequestration will kick in March 1, he told Bloomberg News.
The Defense Department‘s first step to prepare for the cuts is to let go of all or some of the department’s 46,000 temporary workers by mid-February, Carter said in the interview with Tony Capaccio and Gopal Ratnam.
He also said he would not go as far to say that all of those 46,000 workers would be released.
Carter also told Bloomberg the services and organizations within the Office of Secretary of Defense are authorized to either release temporary workers or not renew their contracts as they need to.
Pentagon managers face a Feb. 8 deadline to give Carter a report on how they would handle the budget cuts, including how many temporary workers they would have to let go, Bloomberg reports.
