The deadline has passed for federal employees to respond to Elon Musk’s request that they outline their accomplishments at work last week or be fired, but it appears no workers will face any consequences for not responding.
President Donald Trump on Monday called the ultimatum by Musk “genius,” but the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), effectively the government’s HR office, that sent the directive on Saturday informed agency heads that responding was not in fact mandatory.
On Monday night, Musk suggested that he will issue the directive again, and it will be mandatory. Responding on his social media platform X to a user calling for the firing of workers who failed to respond to the email or who complained about it, Musk posted: “Subject to the discretion of the President, they will be given another chance. Failure to respond a second time will result in termination.”
Musk complained of the widespread recalcitrance to his initial directive in another post on X: “The email request was utterly trivial, as the standard for passing the test was to type some words and press send! Yet so many failed even that inane test, urged on in some cases by their managers.”
While several departments—including Commerce, Interior, and Veterans Affairs—reportedly urged employees to respond to the email, many other departments and agencies pushed back, seeming to try to wrest back oversight of their workforces from Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
Read More: Inside Elon Musk’s War on Washington
Staff at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reportedly received a message stating there “is no HHS expectation” to respond to the OPM email and that employment would not be affected by not responding. It added guidance for those who did choose to respond, including taking steps to protect sensitive information: “Assume that what you write will be read by malign foreign actors.”
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard also reportedly ordered officers of the intelligence community not to answer the OPM email, the New York Times reported. “Given the inherently sensitive and classified nature of our work, I.C. employees should not respond to the OPM email,” Gabbard wrote.
The Department of Defense also asked its employees to hold off on replying to the OPM email. In a statement shared on X, Darin Selnick, who is performing the duties of the under secretary of Defense for personnel and readiness, said the department “is responsible for reviewing the performance of its personnel” and that it will conduct review “in accordance with its own procedures.” Selnick added that “when and if required,” the Department will respond to the OPM email on behalf of its workforce.
FBI Director Kash Patel reportedly issued a similar directive, saying the bureau “is in charge of all of our review processes, and will conduct reviews in accordance with FBI procedures.”
Tibor Nagy, an undersecretary for management at the State Department, also told State Department staff that “No employee is obligated to report their activities outside of their Department chain of command,” and that the Department would respond on behalf of the entire Department. The Department of Homeland Security reportedly gave a similar notice to its employees.
The Justice Department’s top administrative official, Jolene Ann Lauria, said employees of the department “do not need to respond to the email from OPM”, reversing earlier guidance to reply amid confusion within the department, according to Bloomberg.
Musk’s email directive has been the subject of bipartisan criticism and concerns about potential illegality and overreach. As many as 2.3 million federal workers—including some outside the executive branch, such as Library of Congress employees and judges and judiciary staff—may have received the directive, according to the Washington Post. Responses, according to NBC News, are expected to be analyzed using AI.
Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson defended Musk’s move, saying Monday: “The public workforce needs to be treated with dignity and respect, and so do the American taxpayers. In the private sector, where most of us come from, it is not unusual for you to have to fill out … routine reports on what you’re accomplishing, what you’re doing. I don’t think it’s a crazy concept.” Musk responded on X to video of the comments, reiterating his justification: “Just applying the same standards to public vs private workforce. Fair rules for all.”
