Ignore Elon Musk’s ‘ultimatum’ mail, US federal employees told: Report

Elon Musk’s mail had asked the US federal employees to give a brief summary of how productive they had been over the past week by Monday evening or face termination if failed to do so. The mail quickly sparked criticism about Musk’s harsh decisions and interference with the US government functioning.

Musk himself called the mail “trivial” while criticising the US federal employees to not being able to sum up their accomplishments in a mail. Through a post on his own social media platform X, Musk said, “The email request was utterly trivial, as the standard for passing the test was to type some words and press send! Yet so many failed even that inane test, urged on in some cases by their managers. Have you ever witnessed such INCOMPETENCE and CONTEMPT for how YOUR TAXES are being spent? Makes old Twitter look good. Didn’t think that was possible.”

Reuters accessed an internal Justice Department mail in which the US Office of Personnel Management had asked the human resources departments of federal agencies that Musk’s mail could be ignored. It also said that the employees will not lose jobs if they fail to reply to the mail, adding that the response to the mail was voluntary. The mail by USOPM also asked the employees to not share any confidential information in the reply mail.

However, employees at several federal agencies were still asked to respond to the mail. Reuters, citing a source at the General Services Administration, said that the agency was encouraging its employees to respond to Musk’ mail. The agency is responsible for managing federal buildings.

The USOPM itself told its employees that while responding to the mail was up to them, it was “strongly encouraged,” the Reuters report added.

FBI, Pentagon told employees to “pause any responses”

However, several US agencies had asked their employees not to necessarily reply to the mail or, if they do, keep it general in nature and avoid adding specifics.

Kash Patel, the newly appointed director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) also asked the employees to “pause any responses” to the productivity mail.

“FBI personnel may have received an email from OPM requesting information. 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. When and if further information is required, we will coordinate the responses. For now, please pause any responses,” Patel told his employees.

Pentagon employees were also asked to not pay much heed to Musk’s mail. The Department of Defense said that the agency itself was responsible for reviewing the performance of its personnel. “DoD personnel may have received an email from OPM requesting information. The Department of Defense is responsible for reviewing the performance of its personnel and it will conduct any review in accordance with its own procedures. When and if required, the Department will coordinate responses to the email you have received from OPM. For now, please pause any response to the OPM [Office of Personnel Management] email titled ‘What did you do last week,’” the DoD said.