Musk demands workers list their accomplishments. Agencies tell staff not to respond.
WASHINGTON − Billionaire Elon Musk’s memo over the weekend requiring federal employees to list their weekly accomplishments prompted swift pushback from department heads, many of whom also happen to be staunch supporters of President Donald Trump.
Musk, who heads Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, orchestrated a mass email to federal employees Saturday asking them to reply with bullet points listing their achievements last week.
By late Monday, the Office of Personnel Management had told agency heads that responding to the email was voluntary, and lack of a response didn't amount to a resignation, according to news reports.
Musk wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday that “failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.” The deadline, he said, was 11:59 p.m. Monday.
Trump applauded Musk’s mandate in remarks Monday, saying, “I think everyone thought it was a pretty ingenious idea.”
“I thought it was great because we have people who don’t show up to work and nobody knows if they even work for the government,” he said. “What they’re trying to find out is who is working for the government.”
But some departments quickly issued separate guidance after Musk's missive, instructing employees not to respond and noting that department heads would conduct their own reviews.
Here’s a rundown of how agencies have approached Musk’s request.
Which agencies have told their employees not to respond to the email?
Federal agencies that told their employees they should not or didn't need to respond to Musk’s email include:
- FBI
- NASA
- Department of Homeland Security
- Pentagon
- Commerce Department
- National Institutes of Health
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Internal Revenue Service
- State Department
- Energy Department
- Federal Emergency Management Agency
- Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Darin Selnick, acting undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, said in a statement Sunday, “The Department of Defense is responsible for reviewing the performance of its personnel and it will conduct any review in accordance with its own procedures.
“For now, please pause any response to the (Office of Personnel Management) email titled ‘What did you do last week,’” he wrote, according to a post on X.
Kash Patel, a Trump ally confirmed last week as FBI director, also told his staff to “pause any emails” and noted that his agency would do its own review, according to NBC News.
The Department of Agriculture sent an email to employees saying they may respond to Musk’s email if they want, but there was no mandate, NBC News reported.
Which agencies have instructed employees to respond?
Some agencies have instructed employees to comply with Musk’s requirement.
They include the Department of Transportation, the Treasury Department, the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Communications Commission and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, according to several news reports. Employees at the Drug Enforcement Administration also were told to respond, Reuters reported.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy took up Musk’s demand in a social media post listing his top five accomplishments last week.
Contributing: Reuters