MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - Federal workers with NASA, the U.S. Geological Survey, and other offices at Moffett Field in Mountain View received emails Wednesday morning announcing the furloughs and ordering them to wrap up their work.

"We were told we should try to complete the activities in four hours today," Walter Mooney, a USGS Earthquake Science Center seismologist said.

At Moffett Field, which has some 600 federal employees, the main parade ground that is usually crowded in the middle of the week was quiet and deserted.

Signs outside closed doors announced the shutdown.

Mooney walked down empty halls at the USGS office. He said all but 12 of their 150 employees were sent home. The workshop was empty.

"It gets a lot of heavy use. Normally it would be full of employees, but today we

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