WASHINGTON – Another email is set to go out to federal employees on Saturday, this time requesting them to outline their recent achievements. President Donald Trump and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk are renewing their efforts to push for answers from the government workforce.
The plan was disclosed by a person with knowledge of the situation who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly.
The initial email, sent out a week ago, inquired employees about their activities in the previous week and urged them to list five tasks they had accomplished. Musk, backed by Trump in his mission to streamline agencies and cut thousands of federal jobs, stated that failure to respond would result in termination. Various agencies, however, advised their employees not to reply or gave conflicting instructions.
According to sources familiar with the matter, the follow-up email will be delivered differently, potentially making it simpler to take disciplinary action against employees who do not comply.
Instead of being sent by the Office of Personnel Management, which functions as a human resources agency for the federal government but doesn’t have the power to hire or fire, the email will come from individual agencies that have direct oversight of career officials.
The plan was first reported by The Washington Post.
It’s unclear how national security agencies will handle the second email. After the first one, they directed employees not to write back because much of the agencies’ work is sensitive or classified. Less than half of federal workers responded, according to the White House.
The Office of Personnel Management ultimately told agency leaders shortly before the Monday deadline for responses that the request was optional, although it left the door open for similar demands going forward.
On Wednesday, at Trump’s first Cabinet meeting of his second term, Musk argued that his request was a “pulse check” to ensure that those working for the government have “a pulse and two neurons.”
Both Musk and Trump have claimed that some workers are either dead or fictional, and the president has publicly backed Musk’s approach.
Addressing people who didn’t respond to the first email, Trump said “they are on the bubble,” and he added that he wasn’t “thrilled” about them not responding.
“Now, maybe they don’t exist,” he said without providing evidence. “Maybe we’re paying people that don’t exist.”
Trump and Musk are working to downsize the federal government. In addition to recent firings of probationary employees, a memo distributed this week set the stage for large-scale layoffs and consolidation of programs.
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Gomez Licon reported from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
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