DOGE's Elon Musk says federal employees must document their work or resign; some agencies push back
Washington — Federal workers received an email on Saturday instructing them to document five things they accomplished in the past week, and Elon Musk said those who don't reply would risk losing their jobs. But multiple agencies told workers to ignore the request and not to reply.
The email from the Office of Personnel Management, or OPM, had the subject line, "What did you do last week?" It instructed recipients to reply with five examples of what they got done last week, excluding any classified information, and asked workers to include their supervisor in their response.
Musk, who is overseeing the White House's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, said in a post on X that "Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation." He said the directive was "Consistent with President [Trump's] instructions." The email itself did not include the threat of forced resignation.
In a follow up post, Musk wrote that "the bar is very low here. An email with some bullet points that make any sense at all is acceptable! Should take less than 5 mins to write."
The deadline to reply is Monday at midnight, according to the email. However, federal workers outside of OPM do not report to the agency, and it cannot dismiss employees directly.
In a call Monday, OPM told executive branch officials that individual agencies can decide how to respond.
Numerous agencies, including the Justice Department, the FBI, the State Department, the Pentagon, the Department of Energy, the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, had told their staff not to reply.
OPM said in a statement that it will be up to individual agencies to take "any next steps."
"As part of the Trump Administration's commitment to an efficient and accountable federal workforce, OPM is asking employees to provide a brief summary of what they did last week by the end of Monday, CC'ing their manager. Agencies will determine any next steps," an OPM spokesperson told CBS News.
Newly sworn-in FBI Director Kash Patel told his employees in an email Saturday that they should "pause any responses" to the OPM memo.
"FBI personnel may have received an email from OPM requesting information," Patel wrote in a message obtained by CBS News. "The FBI, through the Office of the Director, is in charge of all of our review processes, and will conduct reviews in accordance with the FBI procedures. When and if further information is required, we will coordinate the responses. For now, please pause any responses."
The State Department also directed employees to disregard the email, with an official telling employees that the department will reply on behalf of employees. "No employee is obligated to report their activities outside of their Department chain of command," a department official wrote in a message to workers.
The Pentagon sent a similar message to employees on Sunday, and posted it on X: "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. When and if required, the Department will coordinate responses to the email you have received from OPM. For now, please pause any response to the OPM email titled 'What did you do last week.'"
Speaking Saturday night at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, Mr. Trump said DOGE is "now waging war on government waste, fraud and abuse, and Elon is doing a great job."
The president earlier in the day posted on Truth Social that Musk is doing a great job in reducing the federal government and that he would like to see him get more aggressive in the pursuit.
"Remember, we have a country to save, but ultimately, to make greater than before," he wrote.
In response to Musk's tweet, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees said the billionaire and the Trump administration are showing "their utter disdain for federal employees."
"It is cruel and disrespectful to hundreds of thousands of veterans who are wearing their second uniform in the civil service to be forced to justify their job duties to the this out-of-touch, privileged, unelected billionaire who has never performed one single hour of honest public service in his life," Everett Kelley said in a written statement, adding that the union, which represents more than 750,000 government workers, will challenge any unlawful terminations.
Since Mr. Trump tapped Musk to head DOGE, Musk's team has gone about slashing thousands of federal positions across numerous agencies. DOGE has also stoked controversy by seeking access to sensitive government data.
Mr. Trump on Saturday also addressed his federal buyout plan, alleging that about 75,000 federal workers had accepted what is administration has called "deferred resignations." The president signed an executive order after taking office last month that ends the remote work option for federal workers.
"We want to make government smaller, more efficient," Mr. Trump said. "We want to keep the best people, and we're not going to keep the worst people. And you know, we're doing another thing, if they don't report for work, we're firing them. In other words, you have to go to the office."
