The State Department told employees not to answer it. Employees at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency were told: Definitely reply. And in some parts of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, staffers received instructions to draft a response but not send it yet.
After Elon Musk led a move to email all 2.3 million government workers over the weekend asking them to share five bullet points detailing what they accomplished last week, chaos and confusion reigned. Agencies issued conflicting guidance, as did different divisions within the same agency, in some cases.
Raising the stakes, Musk warned in a post on X that any employee who failed to respond would be treated as having resigned. But the email sent to workers made no mention of this possible consequence, which lawyers said would be illegal.
On Sunday, a Republican lawmaker questioned the viability of the directive.
“I don’t know how that’s necessarily feasible,” Rep. Michael Lawler (R-New York) said on ABC’s “This Week.” “Obviously, a lot of federal employees are under union contract.”
The email hit inboxes Saturday, when federal law bars some employees from working outside of their assigned shifts. Some federal workers were on leave – such as sick leave, parental leave or paid administrative leave imposed by the Trump administration – and unable to access their emails. Others, in the Defense Department, were on duty tours in remote locations, like jungles, without access to computers.
Some agency communications addressed the unorthodox timing and nature of the request.
“It is possible that this new message sent outside of normal business hours was sent in error and/or is a phishing attempt,” said an email to some staff from NOAA leadership. “Until such time as we can verify that the message that was received … is authentic, please do not respond.”
Musk announced Saturday afternoon that the email would soon arrive in federal workers’ inboxes, saying he was acting on instructions from President Donald Trump to take a more aggressive approach to slashing the federal government.
The email came a few hours later, titled “What did you do last week?” It commanded federal employees to “reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager,” according to a copy obtained by The Washington Post. It gave employees a deadline of 11:59 p.m. Eastern time Monday.
The message was sent from an account run by the Office of Personnel Management, which serves as human resources for the entire federal government – and which has been largely taken over by Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service.
Experts said the email may be asking some recipients to violate federal laws, noting that employees at some agencies cannot disclose information about their work to third parties without explicit authorization. The request proved especially concerning for those who work in intelligence roles.
An email Saturday from FBI Director Kash Patel, for instance, said, “the FBI, through the Office of the Director, is in charge of all of our review processes and will conduct reviews in accordance with FBI procedures,” according to a message obtained by The Post.
Other agencies soon followed suit. The State Department “will respond on behalf of the Department,” read a message from Ambassador Tibor P. Nagy obtained by The Post. “No employee is obligated to report their activities outside of their Department chain of command.”
The National Security Agency told workers that “NSA and CYBERCOM are awaiting further guidance” from the Defense Department. The agency advised employees not to respond until receiving further information.
Similar messages went out to employees at a division within the Air Force, the Defense Information Systems Agency, and the National Science Foundation, known as NSF.
“NSF did not receive advanced notice of these communications or guidance for how to respond,” the agency’s chief management officer wrote to employees. “We are seeking guidance … and will provide updated information on Monday. We will also provide guidance in case you did not receive an email or if you do not have access to email on Monday.”
Further adding to the chaos, Musk doubled down on the directive. Writing later on Saturday night in a post on X, the social media platform he owns, he baselessly stated that the email is necessary to ferret out government employees who are “doing so little work that they are not checking their email.” He claimed there were “non-existent people or the identities of dead people” pretending to be government workers.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) said in a statement Sunday that Democrats would block Musk in Congress and the courts.
“Elon Musk is traumatizing hardworking federal employees, their children and families,” Jeffries said. “He has no legal authority to make his latest demands.”
Amid the mixed messages, some agency heads urged a swift response.
Bridget Bean, the acting director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, wrote to staff at 8:32 p.m. informing them the email was “a valid request.” She urged everyone to comply.
And at least one office advertised the email as a chance to tout federal workers’ accomplishments.
Leaders within a NASA directorate wrote to their employees saying they should reply with speed, accuracy and detail.
“In just the next two weeks we have 4 launches and 2 lunar landings with missions that will expand our understanding of the first stages of the Universe,” the NASA email stated, according to a copy reviewed by The Post. “Every one of you play key roles in these momentous endeavors … and can supply many more than just 5 accomplishments in any given week to showcase our mission.”
But at almost the same time elsewhere within NASA, another group of employees received opposite instructions.
One center director wrote, according to a message obtained by The Post: “I recognize there are many concerns already being elevated around the request [including] data that would be sent un-encrypted. … The agency is asking employees to take a pause and wait for additional communication and guidance.”
And on Sunday morning, the NASA directorate that had earlier urged employees to reply taking pride in their work walked it back. “Please go ahead and prepare your bullets but do not submit … until you receive further guidance,” a leader there wrote in a message reviewed by The Post.
Discover more from MEZIESBLOG
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.