I also worked as a civilian for the Navy as an EE (b.s.). I think my pay was ~50k (in the mid 2000s). I don't know about the national labs, but my experience

I also worked as a civilian for the Navy as an EE (b.s.). I think my pay was ~50k (in the mid 2000s). I don't know about the national labs, but my experience working for the navy was that funding was a fight, especially everything being siphoned off for the Afghanistan war. The equipment was pretty up to date (the computers were not the latest, but decent), the furniture was a mismatch collection of liquated stuff, lab reports were published to a confidential library, and we were on flex time, which made the hours great.