The several thousand Lockheed Martin employees furloughed due to the partial federal government shutdown will soon return to work now that the government is back in business, announced company officials. “We are pleased that Congress and the [Obama] Administration reached an agreement to end the current US government shutdown,” states an Oct. 17 company release. “Approximately 2,400 furloughed Lockheed Martin employees [will return] . . . to work soon. We expect all US government facilities to open, stop work orders to be lifted, and for our operations to return to normal as soon as our customers are all back in place and have informed us that we may resume many critical programs that were halted during the shutdown,” it states. The 16-day government shutdown reportedly cost the Defense Department more than $600 million.
U.S. Southern Command recently announced its first lethal strike on a suspected narco-trafficking vessel in two months, and the first under a newly formed permanent counter-cartel task force. The U.S. is also reportedly planning to transfer MQ-9 drones to Colombia to bolster its counter-cartel efforts.