'Pause any response': Chaos in US federal workforce over Musk's email, agencies in wait and watch mode

Elon Musk gave federal government workers in the United States a deadline on Monday to provide an email outlining their accomplishments or risk termination.

Musk’s demand is the most recent attack on government employees as his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) seeks to reduce federal expenditure and employment drastically.

Although Doge is a broad organisation led by the richest person in the world and a software entrepreneur, its cost-cutting initiative has encountered growing opposition on a number of fronts, including court decisions and some pressure from legislators.

On Saturday, more than two million federal employees received an email from the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM) – the government’s HR department – giving them until 11:59 pm Monday to submit “approximately 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week.”

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The message followed Musk’s post on X, which he owns, that “all federal workers” would receive the email and that “failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”

As the deadline neared and confusion reigned on what to make of the threat, President Donald Trump defended Musk’s message, calling it “ingenious” as it would expose whether “people are working.”

“If people don’t respond, it’s very possible that there is no such person or they’re not working,” Trump told reporters.

Non-responders would be “sort of semi-fired” or fired, Trump added without explaining his thinking further.

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According to people with knowledge of the system, responses to Musk’s email to government workers about what work they completed in the previous week would be fed into an AI system to decide if their occupations are essential.

The data will be fed into an LLM (Large Language Model), a sophisticated AI system that analyses vast volumes of textual data to comprehend, produce, and interpret human language. Whether or not a person’s task is mission-critical will be decided by the AI system.

Musk on Monday said Saturday’s email “was basically a check to see if the employee had a pulse and was capable of replying to an email.”

“This mess will get sorted out this week. Lot of people in for a rude awakening and strong dose of reality. They don’t get it yet, but they will,” he added on X.

‘Increase accountability’

Creating confusion among an already anxious workforce, multiple US federal agencies – including some led by prominent Trump loyalists – told staff to ignore the email , at least temporarily.

The list included the Defense Department, which posted a note requesting staff “pause any response to the OPM email titled ‘What did you do last week.’”

FBI Director Kash Patel stated in a note to employees on Saturday that “when and if further information is required, we will coordinate the responses. For now, please pause any responses.”

He went on to say, “The FBI, through the Office of the Director, is in charge of our review processes and will conduct reviews.”

The head of the Department of Homeland Security also issued an email to its more than 250,000 workers, instructing them not to reply.

According to the email, “DHS management will respond on behalf of the Department and all its component offices.”

“No reporting action from you is needed at this time. For now, please pause any responses outside your DHS chain of command.”

US media reported that Trump administration-appointed officials at the FBI, the State Department, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence also instructed staff not to respond directly.

Cyber security seemed to be a key concern, with staff at the Department of Health and Human Services told to “assume that what you write will be read by malign foreign actors” and that they should “tailor your response accordingly.”

At the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, workers were told their answers would stay within the department, at least for the present, and that an answer was not mandatory, according to an email to staff.

Meanwhile, workers at the Treasury Department were directed to comply with Musk’s request as it “reflects an effort to increase accountability by the federal workforce, just as there is in the private sector,” said an email sent to Treasury staff, seen by AFP.

As confusion spread across the federal workforce, speaking anonymously, an administration official told Politico that employees should defer to their agencies on how to respond to the email.

‘Dose of compassion’

Unions quickly opposed Musk’s request, with the largest federal employee union, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), vowing to challenge any unlawful terminations.

Several recent polls indicate that most Americans disapprove of the disruption to the nationwide federal workforce.

Concern has begun to emerge on Capitol Hill from Trump’s own Republican party, which controls both the House and the Senate.

“If I could say one thing to Elon Musk, it’s like, ‘Please put a dose of compassion in this,’” said Senator John Curtis of Utah, whose state has 33,000 federal employees.

“These are real people. These are real lives. These are mortgages,” Curtis said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

Dozens of lawsuits against Musk’s threats or demands have yielded mixed results, with some requests for immediate halts to his executive orders being denied by judges.

One federal judge on Monday barred the Education Department and the Office of Personnel Management from sharing sensitive information with the Musk-led department.