• Musk sent an email to federal employees requesting five bullet points about their weekly accomplishments, with non-response considered resignation.
  • FBI Director Kash Patel, a Trump appointee, instructed staff to pause responses, asserting FBI procedures would govern reviews.
  • The federal employee union plans to challenge any terminations resulting from non-compliance, calling the approach "cruel and disrespectful."

A mass email from Elon Musk demanding that federal employees report their weekly accomplishments or face automatic resignation has sparked significant pushback across government agencies, including from Trump-appointed officials.

The controversial directive, sent Saturday to government workers across multiple departments, requested "approximately 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week" with a Monday deadline.

Musk, who heads the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), emphasized the ultimatum on his social platform X: "Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation."

The approach immediately encountered resistance, most notably from FBI Director Kash Patel, a Trump appointee, who instructed Bureau employees to "pause any responses" while asserting that "the FBI, through the Office of the Director, is in charge of all our review processes, and will conduct reviews in accordance with FBI procedures."

The State Department reportedly issued similar guidance to its personnel.

Musk defended the initiative on social media, claiming that "a significant number of people who are supposed to be working for the government are doing so little work that they are not checking their email at all!"

He further alleged possible fraud involving "non-existent people or the identities of dead people" collecting government paychecks, though he provided no evidence supporting these assertions.

The American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal employee union, announced it would challenge any "unlawful" terminations resulting from non-compliance with the email.

Union president Everett Kelley criticized the approach as showing "utter disdain" for federal workers and called it "cruel and disrespectful... to hundreds of thousands of veterans who are wearing their second uniform in the civil service."

The controversy comes amid broader uncertainty for the federal workforce of over 3 million employees, following other rapid-fire efficiency measures from DOGE including abrupt terminations and a "deferred resignation program."

The New York Times reported that for many government workers, Musk's latest move has "underscored a climate of instability and fear inside the government."

This early clash between Musk's efficiency drive and established government practices highlights the challenges facing the Trump administration's ambitious plans to reshape the federal bureaucracy through unconventional approaches.

Edited By Annette George