Trump officials defy Musk's ultimatum on performance reporting
Kyiv • UNN
Elon Musk demanded that federal employees report weekly accomplishments under the threat of being fired. The heads of key US agencies, including the FBI and the Pentagon, have banned their employees from responding to this demand.
Elon Musk demanded that federal employees summarize their accomplishments for the week, threatening to fire them. In response, Trump administration officials refused to comply with the order, pointing to violations of procedures and threats to privacy.
This is reported by The New York Times, UNN.
On Saturday, Musk issued a requirement for government employees to summarize their accomplishments for the week, warning that failure to comply would be considered resignation. Shortly thereafter, the Office of Personnel Management, which manages the federal workforce, sent a letter asking civilian employees to submit a list of accomplishments, but without the threat of dismissal for disagreeing.
Unions representing federal workers suggested that Musk's order was not valid. Some Trump-appointed officials opposed Elon Musk's ultimatum to federal employees who had to summarize their achievements in a week or be fired. Musk reiterated his demands, but many agencies, including the FBI and the Defense Department, ordered their employees not to respond to the order.
The Ministry of Defense is responsible for evaluating the performance of its employees and will conduct any inspections in accordance with its procedures
Tulsi Gabbard, the director of the Office of National Intelligence, ordered all intelligence officers not to respond to the letter in a message seen by The New York Times.
Due to the sensitive and classified nature of our work, intelligence officers should not respond to the OPM letter
Kash Patel, the FBI director, wrote in a letter to employees that “the FBI, through the office of the director, is responsible for all of our vetting processes,” ordering employees to “refrain from responding in any way at this time.
Senior personnel officials at the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security also ordered their employees not to respond to the letter.
At the Justice and FBI departments, Musk's threats were met with a mixture of anger and surprise that someone would issue such a blanket order without regard to sensitive aspects such as criminal investigations, legal confidentiality, or grand jury materials.
Some law enforcement leaders quickly told their officers to wait for further instructions from their superiors on Monday before responding to the order, according to current and former officials. Other agencies gave conflicting instructions.
The Ministry of Health and Social Services told its employees on Sunday morning to follow the directive. An hour later, a letter from the acting director of the National Institute of Health, a subordinate agency, told employees to refrain from responding.
A few hours later, the HHS ordered all employees to “suspend” responses to the ultimatum. In a sharp statement on Sunday, Everett B. Kelly, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal employee union, said the letter sent to federal workers was “clearly illegal” and “ridiculous.” Kelly demanded that the order be withdrawn and noted:
By allowing the unelected and unbalanced Elon Musk to dictate OPM's actions, you have demonstrated a lack of respect for the integrity of federal employees and their critical work
Several intelligence agencies, including the National Security Agency, have warned employees that responding could inadvertently reveal classified work. While Musk's original letter said employees should not include classified information, current and former intelligence officials have pointed out that if an adversary gained access to thousands of unclassified intelligence accounts, they could gather sensitive details or learn about projects that should remain secret.
Representative Mike Lawler, a Republican from New York whose district is likely to be one of the most contested in 2026, expressed doubt about the order, even while providing broader support for Musk's cost-cutting initiative. Senator Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, also criticized Musk's order.
Our public servants deserve to be treated with dignity and respect for the unrecognized work they do
It is unclear on what legal basis Musk could justify mass layoffs based on the responses to this letter, and the White House and the Office of Personnel Management have not responded to questions about the threat of layoffs.
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President Trump was initially silent, but later mocked federal workers through a meme. In a series of posts on social media, Musk also promoted baseless allegations of payroll fraud - that a significant number of “non-existent” or dead people work in the federal workforce, and that criminals use these fake employees to collect government paychecks.
Recall
U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday called on billionaire Elon Musk to be more aggressive in his efforts to shrink the federal government, despite the uproar over layoffs and drastic spending cuts.
