Musk email to government workers causes confusion among US agencies

The officials of multiple government departments of the United States offered the personnel a contradictory orientation on how to respond to a Saturday email promoted by Trump’s advisor, Elon Musk, requesting them to list their achievements last week.

The guide marks the remarkable public disagreement among those named of Trump who handle thousands of bureaucrats and musk who, as head of the so -called government efficiency department (Doge), has led an external effort to aggressively reduce government spending.

Some chiefs of agencies encouraged staff to comply, while others asked employees to expect more guidance on how to respond properly.

President Donald Trump has not yet commented on email.

The message sent to millions of federal employees on Saturday night occurred after Musk published on its social media platform X that government staff “would shortly receive an email that requests to understand what they did last week.”

In a copy of the email obtained by the BBC, employees were asked to respond explaining their achievements last week in five bullet points, without revealing classified information, before midnight on Monday. The Personnel Management Office (OPM), the Federal Government Human Resources Agency, confirmed that the email was authentic.

The message did not mention whether the decrease in compliance could affect the labor state, despite the affirmation of Musk’s social networks that “not responding will be taken as resignation.”

The newly confirmed FBI director, Kash Patel, told his staff in a separate email later on Saturday that they should “stop any response.”

“FBI staff may have received an OPM email requesting information,” Patel wrote in a message obtained by CBS News. “The FBI, through the director’s office, is in charge of all our review processes and will review the FBI procedures.”

The State Department sent a message similar to its employees, saying that its leadership would respond on behalf of the agency.

“No employee is obliged to inform his activities outside the chain of his department,” said a Tibor Nagy email, an interim undersecretary for management.

In a sign that OPM email may have been a surprise for many agencies, a senior figure in the Department of Justice wrote the staff on Saturday night to say: “The media reports indicate that email is distributed employees throughout the federal government. ”

The message added that “at this point, we have no reason to believe that this message is spam or malicious.”

Later, on Saturday night, a follow -up email was sent clarifying that the OPM message was “legitimate” and that “employees must be prepared to follow the instructions as requested.”

The message of the Department of Justice also came with a warning to the staff: “Do not include any sensitive, confidential or classified information in your answer. If you have any questions about the content of your answer, contact your supervisor.

“If we receive additional guidance or information, I will update all employees, as necessary.”

Other departments, including the Department of Defense, the National Security Agency, the Internal Revenue Service and the Oceanic and Atmospheric National Administration, requested that employees wait more guidance.

OPM did not immediately respond to BBC’s research on whether any staff could be exempt.

The US Federation of Government employees, the largest union that represents federal employees, criticized the message as “cruel and disrespectful” and promised to challenge any “illegal termination” of federal employees.

It is not clear how the message affects any of the approximately three million federal workers who may not have access to their emails this weekend.

Other government employees, such as those of the Consumer Financial Protection Office, were licensed in the last month.

The email arrived hours after Trump praised Musk’s work on social networks, adding: “I would like to see it becomes more aggressive.”

Most Republican members of Congress have been defending Musk and their broader efforts.

New York Congressman Mikeler told ABC on Sunday that Musk’s efforts were a “comprehensive forensic audit of all federal government departments and agencies.”

But Senator John Curtis, a Republican who represents Utah, criticized Musk’s methods, although he said he supported the ultimate goal of Doge’s efforts.

“If I could tell Elon Musk something, it’s like, please put a dose of compassion on this. These are real people. These are real lives. These are mortgages,” Curtis told CBS.