Elon Musk’s social media notice on Saturday that Federal government employees need to state five things they “got done” during the previous week or face the loss of their jobs drew swift pushback over the weekend and into Monday from several Federal agencies including the departments of Defense, Homeland Security, and State, along with fierce criticism from both sides of the aisle on Capitol Hill.
Those three agencies that told their employees to hold off on complying with the Musk instruction – and a subsequent request from the Office of Personnel Management – employ over 1 million Federal civilian employees, or about 41 percent of the 2.4 million civilian worker total.
The weekend saga began with a Musk social media post on Saturday stating, “Consistent with President [Trump]’s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week. Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”
It was followed up by an email late Saturday afternoon from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) stating: “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. Please do not send any classified information, links or attachments. Deadline is this Monday at 1159pmEST.”
Notably, the OPM email did not threaten job loss for Federal employees who did not respond.
Several Federal agencies, however, advised their employees on Sunday not to respond to the OPM email – at least for the present time.
The Department of Defense’s (DoD) Darin Selnick, who is performing the duties of under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, said in a social media post that “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,” he said. “For now, please pause any response to the OPM email titled ‘What did you do last week.’”
DoD employs upwards of 750,000 civilians, or nearly a third of the government’s 2.4 million civilian employees.
Likewise, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told employees in an email on Sunday that “DHS management will respond on behalf of the Department and all of its component offices,” according to reputable media reports.
“No reporting action from you is needed at this time,” DHS said, adding, “For now, please pause any responses outside of your DHS chain of command.” DHS employs upwards of 250,000 Federal workers.
The State Department offered a similar statement from Tibor Nagy, acting under secretary of state for management, who said the agency “will respond on behalf of the Department. No employee is obligated to report their activities outside their Department chain of command.”
According to reporting by the New York Times, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard instructed intelligence community official not to response to the OPM email, and FBI Director Kash Patel also asked employees of his bureau to hold off responding at least “for now.”
By contrast, the Department of the Interior instructed its employees to comply with the OPM email, according to agency correspondence viewed by MeriTalk, and indicated it may incorporate weekly reporting of accomplishments into its reporting structures.
On Capitol Hill, House Oversight and Reform Committee Ranking Member Gerry Connolly, D-Va., savaged the OPM email to Federal civilian employees in a Feb. 22 letter to OPM Acting Director Charles Ezell.
“I write with immediate concern regarding an email that your office sent to federal employees today and its relationship with Elon Musk’s threat to dismiss any employees who do not respond,” the congressman said.
“This threat is illegal, reckless, and yet another example of the cruel and arbitrary chaos Mr. Musk is inflicting on the people’s government and its dedicated public servants,” he said. “You must immediately clarify that federal employees’ nonresponse to this ill-conceived, weekend email does not constitute resignation.”
“The capricious dismissal threatened in Mr. Musk’s post is illegal and cannot be tolerated,” the congressman said. “Mr. Musk’s post is an insult to federal workers and shows that he lacks a basic understanding that many federal workers will not be receiving this email in time to respond by the deadline as they may be away from their secure workstation or on medical leave.”
“He also, disturbingly, appears to be unaware that many federal employees are locked out of their systems due to the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) ongoing intrusion into federal IT infrastructure,” Rep. Connolly said.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, blasted Musk’s weekend email, calling it “absurd.”
“If Elon Musk truly wants to understand what federal workers accomplished over the past week, he should get to know each department and agency and learn about the jobs he’s trying to cut,” she said in a social media post.
“Our public servants work hard to ensure that our national security is protected, that planes land safely, that forest fires do not spread to our homes, that Social Security checks arrive on time, that research for the breakthroughs needed to cure illnesses like cancer and ALS continues, and much more,” the senator said.
“Our public workforce deserves to be treated with dignity and respect for the unheralded jobs they perform,” she said. “The absurd weekend email to justify their existence wasn’t it.”
Rep. Connolly followed up today with a letter from more than 100 Democratic House members to the heads of the 24 largest Federal agencies “demanding they immediately clarify to their agencies that federal employees do not have to respond to Elon Musk’s ill-conceived, reckless email and that nonresponse does not constitute resignation.”
Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees which represents 800,000 employees of the Federal government and the District of Columbia, said on Feb. 23 that he asked OPM to rescind the email request, and told union members that “the thoughtless and bullying email was meant to intimidate federal employees and cause mass confusion.”
He also advised members to comply with instructions from their agency leaders and supervisors on whether to respond to the email.
