Leaders at the State Department and FBI told federal employees not to reply, indicating that not all Trump officials are in agreement.
Elon Musk issued an ultimatum to federal employees Saturday, saying in a post on his social media platform X that employees must respond to an email justifying the work they completed this week or resign.
Federal employees have already begun receiving an email asking to summarize their work, sources familiar with the matter told the news agencies.
The email, sent from the Office of Personnel Management and shared with NBC News, asked employees to send approximately five bullet points listing what they accomplished this week, CC’ing their managers. The email requested that employees not send any classified information, links or attachments and said employees must respond by a deadline of Monday at 11:59 p.m. ET.
As directed by President @realDonaldTrump, all government employees will soon get an email asking them to explain their work from the previous week. It will be assumed that you have resigned if you don’t reply,” Musk wrote.
FBI Director Kash Patel has told staff to “pause any responses” to the email asking government employees what they did last week, indicating that not all Trump officials agree with Musk’s productivity probe. According to Patel, the FBI will examine its own personnel’ work in compliance with its own protocols.
Employees of the State Department were also instructed not to reply to the email.
The department would reply on behalf of personnel, according to Ambassador Tibor P. Nagy’s email to staff members, and “no employee is obligated to report their activities outside of their Department chain of command.”
The American Federation of Government Employees’ president, Everett Kelley, denounced Musk and the Trump administration for the email on Saturday and promised to fight against “unlawful terminations” of federal employees and union members nationwide.
In a statement, Kelley said, “Elon Musk and the Trump Administration have once again demonstrated their complete contempt for federal employees and the vital services they provide to the American people.”
“To be forced to defend their job duties to this out-of-touch, privileged, unelected billionaire who has never served a single hour of honest public service in his life is cruel and disrespectful to hundreds of thousands of veterans who are wearing their second uniform in the civil service,” Kelley continued.
The FDA’s headquarters is represented by a chapter of the National Treasury Employees Union, which “strongly” instructed members not to reply. The chapter also stated that the NTEU and its office of general counsel are “taking immediate action.”
“We work for HHS/FDA, not OPM: OPM directives that have not been formally adopted or communicated by our employer, the FDA, do not create an obligation for you to respond,” the guidelines sent by the NTEU chapter stated.
In a statement to NBC News, OPM spokesman McLaurine Pineover stated that the office is asking staff members to provide a summary of their work.
OPM is requesting that staff members submit a brief description of their work from the previous week by Monday at the latest, CCing their manager, as part of the Trump Administration’s commitment to an effective and responsible federal workforce. “Any further actions will be decided by agencies,” Pineover stated.
This email coincides with Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency’s efforts to implement widespread workforce reductions across the federal government, including mass layoffs, the unintentional dismissal of Department of Agriculture officials involved in the government’s response to the bird flu, and attempts to dismantle organizations like USAID.
According to the Pew Research Center, as of November 2024, the federal government employed over 3 million workers.
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