The U.S. federal government has been thrown into confusion after several key agencies advised their employees not to respond to an email directive from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) task force. The email, which was sent to millions of federal employees on Saturday evening, requested that workers provide a summary of their accomplishments from the past week in five bullet points. Musk, in a social media post on X, warned that failure to respond by midnight on Monday would be considered a resignation.
However, multiple agencies, including the FBI, the Pentagon, and the State Department, instructed their staff to refrain from replying. FBI Director Kash Patel sent an internal message advising employees to “pause any responses” while agency leadership reviewed the matter. The State Department similarly noted that leadership would respond on behalf of the agency, emphasizing that employees were not obligated to report activities outside their department’s chain of command.
Despite Musk’s assertion, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which serves as the federal government’s human resources agency, later confirmed the email’s authenticity. However, it did not clarify whether non-compliance would lead to job termination. The conflicting messages caused widespread confusion among federal employees, with some agencies opting to await further guidance before responding.
The Justice Department, in an internal memo, confirmed that the email was legitimate but warned employees against including sensitive or classified information in their responses. Meanwhile, agencies like the Department of Transportation, Secret Service, and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency encouraged their employees to comply with the directive.
The controversy has drawn political backlash, with Congressman Gerry Connolly, a senior Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, calling the directive “illegal” and demanding that OPM clarify that non-response does not constitute resignation. The American Federation of Government Employees, the largest union representing federal workers, also condemned the message as “cruel and disrespectful” and threatened legal action.
Musk’s initiative, supported by many Republicans, is seen as part of a broader effort to conduct a “forensic audit” of government departments. While some GOP lawmakers backed the initiative, others, such as Senator John Curtis, warned Musk to handle the matter with more compassion, acknowledging the livelihoods at stake.
The controversy underscores growing tensions between Musk’s aggressive cost-cutting vision and federal bureaucracy, raising questions about government oversight, employee rights, and the future of Musk’s role in shaping public administration.
