A recent announcement by Elon Musk has urged U.S. government employees to provide details of their work from the past week or risk losing their jobs. On Saturday, Musk communicated that, in line with instructions from President Donald Trump, all federal employees would soon receive an email requesting information about their recent accomplishments.
Musk, who is considered the informal leader of the Department of Government Efficiency, stated that a lack of response would be regarded as a resignation. Following this, a memorandum from the U.S. government’s human resources department instructed staff to submit approximately five bullet points detailing their achievements by midnight on Monday. The memo also advised employees against including any classified information in their responses.
This directive resembles tactics employed by Musk during his acquisition of Twitter. It was issued shortly after Trump expressed satisfaction with Musk’s performance but encouraged him to adopt a more assertive approach. Musk’s initiative, humorously called “Doge,” has significantly impacted key government departments, resulting in the termination of numerous contracts and the suspension of thousands of staff members.
The Trump administration has encountered criticism for dismissing veterans and cybersecurity personnel, necessitating the rehiring of staff at the agency responsible for the security of the nation’s nuclear arsenal. Under the Doge program, federal employees were offered the option to resign if unwilling to return to full-time office work; about 77,000 took this offer from an initial prediction of up to 200,000 potential resignations.
Additionally, on Friday, President Trump dismissed General CQ Brown, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, along with five other senior Pentagon officials. Plans were announced to eliminate 5,400 probationary positions at the Department of Defense in the coming week.
While the Office of Personnel Management’s email did not reiterate Musk’s online warning of job termination for non-compliance, Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, declared the organization would contest any unauthorized dismissals of federal employees. Kelley criticized Musk and the Trump administration for their perceived disregard for federal employees and the essential services they provide. He condemned what he described as the unreasonable demands placed on veteran employees by someone lacking public service experience.
The Office of Personnel Management declined to comment on the situation.