The Pentagon may announce as soon as this weekend a plan to bring up to 400,000 furloughed civilian employees back to work, according to two Defense Department officials.

CNN has learned the plan is in the final stages of being written and approved.

If all are returned to work, it would represent about half the number of government civilian and contract employees at risk of furloughs during the government shutdown that began on Tuesday. …

Details of the Pentagon plan were being worked out on exactly which employees would be brought back and how they would be notified.