Federal employees should expect another email on Saturday requiring them to explain their recent accomplishments, a renewed attempt by President Donald Trump and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk to demand 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 first email, which was distributed a week ago, asked employees “what did you do last week?” and prompted them to list five tasks that they completed. Musk, who empowered by Trump is aiming to downsize agencies and eliminate thousands of federal jobs, said anyone who didn’t respond would be fired. Many agencies, meanwhile, told their workforces not to respond or issued conflicting guidance.
The second email will be delivered in a different way, according to the person with knowledge of the situation, potentially making it easier to discipline employees for noncompliance.
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.”
In addition to recent firings of probationary employees, a memo distributed this week set the stage for large-scale layoffs and consolidation of programs.
