Some Agencies Tell Staff to Respond to Gov’t Email Request to List Work Accomplishments

Elon Musk walks into the White House grounds on Feb. 13, 2025. Travis Gillmore/The Epoch Times

Some federal agencies have told employees to respond to a new mass email that asked government workers to detail their recent accomplishments, while others have instructed staff not to reply.

The email was sent by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and has been promoted by Elon Musk, who has been leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

The Drug Enforcement Administration has told employees to respond to the email, according to an internal message. Federal Communications Commission staffers have also been instructed to reply.

At least one agency initially told workers to respond before later advising them to hold off. That agency, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said in its latest message that officials were working on how to “best meet the intent” of the directive.

The Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Communications Commission, and the Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to requests for comment before publication time.

Other agencies have maintained, at least for now, that employees should not respond.

“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,” Darin S. Selnick, acting undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, said in a message to employees released by the Pentagon. “When and if required, the Department will coordinate responses to the email you received from OPM. For now, please pause any response to the OPM email.”

FBI Director Kash Patel also told bureau workers that they should not respond, while State Department workers were told the same, according to internal emails.

An FBI spokesperson declined to comment. A State Department spokesperson referred questions to the White House.

The White House did not respond to an inquiry.

Trump has directed DOGE to help government agencies cut costs and become more efficient. The effort has led to at least 75,000 resignations and thousands of terminations.

The White House posted the email on social media platform X. Titled “What did you do last week?” it instructed workers to reply with about five bullet points detailing their recent accomplishments, with their manager cc'd.

The deadline was said to be Feb. 24, just before midnight.

Musk wrote on X over the weekend that failure to respond would be treated as a resignation.

“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!” Musk said in another post. “In some cases, we believe non-existent people or the identities of dead people are being used to collect paychecks. In other words, there is outright fraud.”

An OPM spokesperson said that each agency would determine any next steps in response to the mass email. When asked what would happen if an employee did not answer due to being on vacation or leave, she said that agencies would determine how to proceed.

Trump. on his social media platform, Truth Social, posted a list of five accomplishments, including briefing a senior official on a classified project. He later wrote in all caps, “Elon is doing a great job, but I would like to see him get more aggressive.”

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.