Federal employees have been advised to disregard an email from Elon Musk demanding they submit weekly accomplishment reports.
Musk, recently appointed by former President Donald Trump to oversee government job cuts and spending, sent the email Saturday via the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).
However, multiple agencies, including the FBI, FEMA, IRS, NOAA, CDC, and the Department of Energy, have instructed staff to ignore it while awaiting further guidance.
FBI Director Kash Patel wrote in an email as quoted by The Mirror US: “FBI personnel may have received an email from OPM requesting information. The FBI… will conduct reviews in accordance with FBI procedures. For now, please pause any responses.”
Ambassador Tibor P. Nagy reassured State Department employees: “No employee is obligated to report their activities outside of their department chain of command.”
NOAA’s Rear Adm. Chad Cary stated the email “came as a surprise,” and the agency is seeking clarification. The IRS and CDC are also awaiting instructions.
Many agencies remain uncertain about how to respond, with some employees told to wait until further guidance is issued next week.
The Trump administration, on Saturday, sent a stern warning to federal government employees, demanding they detail their work accomplishments from the previous week by Monday night or risk losing their jobs.
The directive came via email sent on Saturday evening, which was backed by Elon Musk, the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, who stated on social media platform X that failure to respond would be viewed as a resignation.
Musk’s post was preceded by President Donald Trump’s own social media post, urging more aggressive efforts to downsize and reshape the federal workforce.
“Consistent with President @realDonaldTrump’s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week,” Musk tweeted on Saturday. Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”
He added: “A large number of good responses have been received already. These are the people who should be considered for promotion,” Musk said in another X post on Sunday.
The emails sent to employees across various federal agencies, according to Reuters, included the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, request a five-point summary of accomplishments from the previous week, with a deadline of 11:59 p.m. EST on Monday.
However, questions remain about the legal basis for terminating federal workers who fail to respond to this request, as well as the implications for employees handling confidential work.
Meanwhile, the email asks employees to reply with five bullet points summarizing “what you accomplished at work last week,” and to copy their managers.
(Niche)
