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10/3/13

U.S. government shutdown: Security services stretched thin says James Clapper - by Evan Vucci

U.S. intelligence officials said Wednesday that the government shutdown is seriously damaging the intelligence community's ability to guard against threats. They said they're keeping counterterrorism staff at work as well as those providing intelligence to troops in Afghanistan, but that the danger would increase daily with fewer spies to track targets.

Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper told Congress Wednesday that roughly 70 per cent of the civilian workforce — including staff from the CIA, National Security Agency and Defence Intelligence Agency — have been furloughed.

The shutdown showed no sign of ending Wednesday evening as Republicans and Democrats remained deadlocked after meeting at the White House.

On Wednesday, Obama hosted 14 chief executives from the nation's biggest financial firms for more than an hour of meetings. Moreover, the Chamber of Commerce, a business advocacy group, has sent a letter to Congress signed by about 250 business groups urging no shutdown and warning that a debt ceiling crisis could lead to an economic disaster.

They say that the policy disputes over health care and spending that are separating Democrats and Republicans should be debated later.

Read more: U.S. government shutdown: Security services stretched thin - World - CBC News

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