Federal agencies are divided in their responses to an email from Elon Musk directing their employees to email in a list of five tasks completed last week – or else.
On Saturday, an email went out from the Office of Personnel Management, which Musk now controls, asking employees across the federal government, “What did you do last week?”
“Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager,” a copy of the email seen by USA TODAY read.
Musk threatened in a post to X the same day, “Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”
Elon Musk, appearing at the Conservative Political Action Conference, waved around a chainsaw to represent his efforts to slash the federal government.
The email demanded responses by Monday, even though many employees are currently on-leave, and some are unable to access email or not allowed to work outside of normal business hours.
Musk’s missive hit the inboxes of federal workers who survived his Department of Government Efficiency’s firing of thousands of workers in the past two weeks. Empowered by President Donald Trump, Musk and his aides undertook an unprecedented cutdown of the government workforce.The email prompted managers at a wide swath of agencies to advise their employees not to answer as they sought clearer legal guidance on whether their employees could actually be fired for failing to respond.
Those included the State Department, Department of Energy, Federal Emergency Management Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to reports.
“The State Department will respond on behalf of the Department. No employee is obligated to report their activities outside of their Department chain of command,” read an email sent out to State Department employees and posted by CBS.
At NOAA, some of the leadership even wondered whether the email, sent outside business hours, could be a scam or phishing attempt, and advised employees not to respond until they could verify it, Government Executive reported.
More: Fired VA health workers reinstated, but new staff don’t trust Trump and Musk
Kash Patel, Trump’s newly-confirmed FBI director, sent employees of the bureau an email ordering them to stand down on replying to Musk’s email. “When and if further information is required, we will coordinate the responses. For now, please pause any responses,” the email said, according to a photo posted by NBC News.
The Department of Defense issued a similar email to employees, according to the Washington Post.
Meanwhile, others advised their employees to follow Musk’s orders. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency called the email a “valid request” in its guidance to employees, the Post reported.
On Sunday, a Republican lawmaker raised questions about whether Musk’s threat of termination for noncompliance would be legally enforceable.
“I don’t know how that’s necessarily feasible,” Rep. Michael Lawler, R-N.Y. said on ABC’s “This Week.” “Obviously, a lot of federal employees are under union contract.”
Musk, DOGE slash federal workforce
The email came after Musk fired thousands of employees across the federal government and shuttered entire agencies as part of an unprecedented push to cut down the federal government. The ousted workers came from agencies such as the IRS, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Department of Education, and the Forest Service.
Some workers were reinstated days after they were fired, including at the National Nuclear Security Administration and Department of Veterans Affairs.
The layoffs prompted outrage among Democratic lawmakers and protests across Washington, D.C. Reports that Musk and his young, 20-something aides had access to secure, personal data at the Treasury Department and IRS also caused an uproar – a judge later declined to block Musk’s access to Treasury data.
Musk has struggled to produce receipts showing that his cost-cutting measures saved the $55 billion that he initially claimed. A site documenting DOGE’s savings claimed the largest federal contract it eliminated saved $8 billion – in reality, it was only worth around $8 million.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Federal agencies divided on how to respond to Elon Musk latest threat
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