Pentagon Comptroller Robert Hale told House lawmakers Thursday the Defense Department was forced to shed $600 million in civilian services for national security objectives as a result of the shutdown, American Forces Press Service reports.

“The lapse forces us to waste a good deal of the public’s money. About 400,000 DOD civilian personnel on furlough did not work for four days,” Hale said to the House Armed Services Committee, according to AFPS.

Hale also outlined the shutdown’s impact on pay for military and civilian personnel, telling the committee soldiers and excepted civilians are continuing to work and have their pay guaranteed.

Reserves personnel will not be paid until the shutdown ends, Hale said.

More than 95 percent of the furloughed civilian employees were called back to work and most returned to their jobs by Oct. 7, he added.