Elon Musk overseeing the Department of Government Efficiency has released a new Directive requiring federal employees to email their work activity each week. This is despite the growing controversy.
How to scrutinize federal employee productivity
Musk first announced the email on X, formerly Twitter. The request was for federal workers in that week to provide a list of their accomplishments. The announcement stated that failure to comply with the request would be considered resignation. There was a lot of unrest across all federal agencies as a result.
The Office of Personnel Management clarified to the agency heads, that Musk’s request is voluntary. It was a response to the Pentagon’s instruction that its employees ignore the email and similar advice given by the former FBI director Kash patel.
Musk was publicly backed by former president Donald Trump who called Musk’s idea “pretty brilliant.” He said that those who did not respond by the set deadline would be “semi fired or fired.”
Pentagon Compliance and a Mandatory Directive: Key developments
Musk reaffirmed Trump’s support in a post on X. He declared that the email request was mandatory for the Executive Branch. Musk clarified that workers on classified or sensitive matters can simply indicate that they are working in a sensitive area while still sending a reply.
It was reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has issued revised guidelines, which directs all civilians at the Pentagon, to respond by email and provide five bullets outlining the weekly accomplishments.
DefenseScoop has obtained an internal DOD memo that instructs its civilian staff to reply within 48-hours to the scheduled March 3rd email and include their supervisors. This is in contrast to earlier DOGE guidance that advised employees to defer responding to DOGE’s “What Did You Do Last Week” email.
Musk’s first email caused confusion and alarm throughout the federal bureaucracy. This was especially true for agencies that deal with classified or sensitive information such as the U.S. Intelligence Community, Department of Defense and FBI.
Previously, agency heads gave contradictory instructions on how to respond to Musk’s requests. Pentagon, Department of Justice FBI Department of Energy Department of Health and Human Services HHS and Social Security Administration all told employees that they should ignore Musk’s email.
The Associated Press reported that federal employees were then sent a follow-up email requesting a brief summary of recent achievements.
The emails are reportedly sent by individual agencies and give direct control over their career personnel, not OPM. OPM oversees federal human resources but does not have the authority to hire or fire.
A late-Friday OPM email directed two agencies’ employees to send five bullets summarizing accomplishments, copying their managers. Weekly submissions were required. It also gave workers who handle classified information instructions, telling them that they should write “All my activities are confidential.”
The OPM reports that since his second tenure began, DOGE has recommended more than 200 000 federal workers be fired. About 75,000 federal probationary staff have accepted their resignation option.
Trump and DOGE have been lauded by Trump as “a group of super geniuses”.
Karoline L. Leavitt is the White House’s press secretary. She stated that it served as a way to verify federal employees performed their duties without specifying if this was part of any job-elimination strategy. White House officials also said that Trump had emailed Musk about five of the things Musk did.
Musk claimed that the idea for the email came from him after the former president told him to “be more aggressive with your cuts”.
DOGE Initiative: Perspectives
Elon Musk: This is important because many people working for government do so little that they never check their email. We believe that in some instances, nonexistent or dead individuals are used to collect pay. There is also outright fraud.”
Former President Donald Trump Do you know what he was thinking? It was great, because there are people who don’t even show up for work. Nobody knows whether they are working for the government. So by asking the question, ‘Tell us what you did this week,’ what he’s doing is saying, ‘Are you actually working?'”
Senator John Curtis: “If I were to tell Elon Musk one thing, it would be: Please add some compassion. They are real lives. This is real life. They are mortgages. This is a false narrative that says we need to reduce and you must be cruel as well.”
Look Ahead: Employee Impact and Authority Questions
It is unclear how much authority Musk or DOGE have to fire employees in response to an email. This situation raises serious questions regarding federal employee accountability and data as well as the impact these measures will have on federal employees in the future.