White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a press conference on Tuesday that “more than one million” of 2.4 million Federal workers total responded to an email asking to name five things they “got done” in the previous week.
“We’ve had more than one million workers who have chosen to participate in this very simple task of sending five bullet points to your direct supervisor or manager,” Leavitt said.
Agency leaders at the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, and State Department told employees not to comply with the email’s instructions. However, Leavitt said the Department of Government Efficiency worked with the heads of agencies and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to send the emails.
“What did you do last week? Please reply to this email with approximately 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 1159pm EST,” the email from OPM reads.
Elon Musk, Chief of DOGE, wrote in a social media post Monday extending the opportunity for Federal workers to respond. Musk did not provide a deadline in the extension.
In a Feb. 26 cabinet meeting, Musk addressed the email request describing it as a “pulse check” rather than a performance review.
“If you have a pulse and two neurons you can reply to an email,” Musk said. “Our goal is not to be capricious or unfair, we want to give people every opportunity to send an email,” he added.
“We advise Federal workers, unless your agency has dictated you not to, to respond to this email,” Leavitt said.
“It took me about a minute and a half to think of five things I did last week. I do five things in about 10 minutes, and all federal workers should be working at the same pace that President Trump is working,” Leavitt said.
Separately, a total of 21 employees resigned from the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) according to a letter they released on Tuesday, citing their unwillingness to “legitimize” DOGE’s actions.
“We swore to serve the American people and uphold our oath to the Constitution across presidential administrations. However, it has become clear that we can no longer honor those commitments at the United States DOGE service,” the letter reads.
The letter, addressed to President Trump’s Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, said the employees worked for the United States Digital Service but that their responsibilities were being integrated into DOGE. President Trump renamed the United States Digital Service as the United States DOGE Service on his first day in office.
The letter said the employees were required to complete 15-minute interviews with individuals who refused to identify themselves and asked questions about political loyalties, division between colleagues, and displayed “limited technical ability.”
“This process created significant security risks,” the letter read about the 15-minute interviews.
The resignation letter also highlighted terminations in the agency from an “anonymous email” on Feb. 14. It said terminations targeted employees that are “working to modernize” social security, veterans’ services, tax filing, healthcare, disaster relief, and student aid.
“Their removal endangers millions of Americans who rely on these services every day,” the letter reads. “The sudden loss of their technology expertise makes critical systems and Americans’ data less safe,” the letter adds.
Navin Eluthesen wrote in a social media post on Tuesday identifying himself as one of the employees who signed the resignation letter.
“I helped millions of Americans retain their health insurance, helped hundreds of thousands of Americans retain their access to food stamps, and in the process saved hundreds of millions of dollars every year without cutting government programs or firing government workers,” Eluthesen wrote.
“My team and I were able to accomplish all of this before the takeover of DOGE, and we are now all choosing to leave rather than participate in the reckless, incompetent, and disrespectful ways DOGE is changing our government, which will result in decades of immeasurable harm done to millions of people at home and abroad,” Eluthesen added.
The resignation letter also highlighted DOGE’s integration of USDS operations, saying DOGE mishandled sensitive data, fired technical experts, and broke critical systems.
“These actions are not compatible with the mission we joined the United States Digital Service to carry out: to deliver better services to the American people through technology and design,” the resignation letter reads.
“We will not use our skills as technologists to compromise core government systems, jeopardize Americans’ sensitive data, or dismantle critical public services,” the resignation letter reads. “We will not lend our expertise to carry out or legitimize DOGE’s actions.”
