Key U.S. agencies—including the FBI, State Department, and the Pentagon—are rejecting Elon Musk’s latest directive that requires federal workers to detail their accomplishments from the previous week, under threat of termination. This unusual mandate, which has garnered support from former Trump appointees, has sparked significant confusion and internal turmoil within the federal workforce, coming just a month after Trump’s return to the White House and his aggressive push to downsize the government.
Over the weekend, administration officials scrambled to interpret the mandate. While some unions are demanding that the directive be withdrawn and an apology issued, with legal action threatened, guidance across agencies remains inconsistent. For instance, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), under the leadership of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., instructed its approximately 80,000 employees to comply on Sunday morning—shortly after acting general counsel Sean Keveney had cautioned some staff not to.
Keveney expressed his discontent, noting in an internal email that after clocking over 70 hours of work advancing the Administration’s priorities, he felt personally insulted by the directive. He raised concerns over security and the potential compromise of attorney-client privilege, stating, “I have received no assurances that there are appropriate protections in place to safeguard responses to this email.”
Musk’s team had sent an email on Saturday to hundreds of thousands of federal employees, giving them roughly 48 hours to report five specific achievements from the past week. In a follow-up message on X, Musk warned that failure to meet the deadline—set for 11:59 p.m. EST Monday—would result in job loss.
The ultimatum has drawn criticism from both Democrats and some Republicans. It came mere hours after former President Trump encouraged Musk on social media to “get more aggressive” in trimming government size through his so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Notably, Musk recently celebrated his new position by wielding a giant chainsaw at a conservative conference, further fueling the controversy.
Senator John Curtis (R-Utah) voiced his concerns, urging Musk to “put a dose of compassion” into his approach. “These are real people. These are real lives. These are mortgages,” Curtis said, emphasizing that harsh cuts should not come at the cost of human dignity. Meanwhile, Representative Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) questioned the legal foundation for dismissing thousands of federal workers over noncompliance, even though the initial email did not explicitly threaten job termination.
For Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), the mandate leaves no room for debate: “The actions he’s taking are illegal, and we need to shut down this illegal operation.”
This escalating clash between high-level directives and federal workforce realities underscores the broader tensions within the current administration, as efforts to rapidly reshape government operations continue to unfold.
