WASHINGTON: The Trump administration sent a second round of emails on Friday evening, instructing all federal employees to summarise their work from the past week, after a similar attempt the week before failed due to confusing directives.
Reuters has confirmed that the emails from the government’s human resources arm, the US Office of Personnel Management, were sent to multiple agencies, asking workers to list five things they accomplished during the week.
The move marks a renewed push by billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency team to assess the performance of government employees as the administration looks to mass layoffs to dramatically trim the federal footprint.
“The President has made it clear that this is mandatory for the executive branch,” Musk wrote on X. “Anyone working on classified or other sensitive matters is still required to respond if they receive the email, but can simply reply that their work is sensitive.”
Musk attempted a similar tack last week, along with a threat that noncompliant workers could be fired, but he was stymied when some agencies such as the State and Justice Departments told their employees to stick to the chain of command.
Ultimately, OPM informed agencies that responding to the emails was voluntary.
But Musk, with President Donald Trump’s backing, continued to press for the emails as a means they said to hold workers accountable. Both men suggested that some federal employees on the payroll do not exist.
Critics, including Democratic lawmakers and labour unions, say widespread cuts could hamper crucial government functions and services.
The second round of emails does not include any threat of retaliation for noncompliance but say workers are expected to send responses at the beginning of each work week.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has directed Pentagon workers to comply, according to media reports, but the State Department again told their employees to hold off, according to a directive seen by Reuters.
The Department of Homeland Security told its employees to respond to an internal DHS email address, labelled “accountability” because of its national security responsibilities, according to a memo reviewed by Reuters.
The Justice Department also received the directive. The acting US attorney for the District of Columbia, Ed Martin, told workers in his office to comply, according to a message seen by Reuters.
“All federal government departments are cooperating with @DOGE,” Musk posted on Saturday. “For State, DoD and a few others, the supervisors are gathering the weekly accomplishments on behalf of individual contributors.”
Reuters was able to confirm the emails were also sent to employees at the Internal Revenue Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Institutes for Health. Those agencies have all been targeted by DOGE for layoffs.
Musk’s team last week instructed agencies across the government to submit plans by 13 March for a “significant reduction” in staffing across the federal workforce.
Layoffs continue
Already, about 100,000 workers have taken buyouts or been fired after DOGE was dispatched by Trump to gut federal staffing and spending. There are about 2.3 million federal employees in all.
The layoffs have occurred in such haphazard fashion that some agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration have been forced to recall key personnel in order to ensure public safety.
On Friday, the Social Security Administration, which sends out benefit cheques to tens of millions of Americans, said it would cut 7,000 people from its workforce and shutter several regional offices.
Most recently, the Trump administration has pulled the plug on a team of tech-savvy civil servants that helped build the Internal Revenue Service’s free tax filing service and revamped websites across government.
In an email sent overnight to employees of the US General Services Administration (GSA) and seen by Reuters, the GSA’s Director of Technology Transformation Services Thomas Shedd said the team — known as 18F — had been identified as “non-critical.”
Formed at the tail end of the Barack Obama administration, the unit acted as an internal tech consultancy within government, ferreting out duplication and waste, streamlining bureaucratic processes, and making public-facing websites more user-friendly.
Questions about Musk’s role and DOGE are at the heart of multiple lawsuits seeking to block them from accessing government systems and confidential data. The suits allege that Musk and DOGE are violating the Constitution by wielding the kind of vast power that only comes from agencies created through the US Congress or appointments made with confirmation by the US Senate.
Musk’s actions have also caused some tension and confusion among Trump’s White House aides, although Trump himself is said to be wholly on board with the effort.
The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX is not a Cabinet-level official and did not face US Senate confirmation. The Trump administration has been evasive about exactly what role he plays within DOGE.
