Washington DC [US], February 23: In a bombshell move, tech billionaire Elon Musk sent shockwaves through the federal workforce with an email instructing all federal employees to report their work progress for the previous week. The email, which came from the Office of Personnel Management’s new HR email address, demanded employees respond or face being considered resigned.
The email, which lacked a signature, read: “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.” The subject line was simply, “What did you do last week?”
Musk made the announcement public on social media, stating, “Consistent with President@realDonaldTrump’s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week,” adding, “Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”
This came shortly after US President Donald Trump praised Musk for his efforts, suggesting he should adopt a more aggressive approach. “ELON IS DOING A GREAT JOB, BUT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE HIM GET MORE AGGRESSIVE. REMEMBER, WE HAVE A COUNTRY TO SAVE, BUT ULTIMATELY, TO MAKE GREATER THAN EVER BEFORE. MAGA!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Despite Musk’s bold directive, several national security agencies, including the FBI, advised their staff not to respond to the email. The agencies indicated that they were unaware of the email request and were unprepared to handle it. FBI Director Kash Patel instructed employees to pause any responses. In an internal memo, Patel emphasized that the FBI was in charge of its own review process and that any additional information would be coordinated centrally.
The email issued by Musk did not explicitly state that failure to respond would be deemed as resignation but set a deadline for replies by Monday at 11:59 p.m. ET.
Following Musk’s post, Trump called him a “patriot” and praised his work during remarks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
In the latest development, Musk called for promoting those who responded to the email, further stoking controversy over the demand.