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Several US federal agencies have pushed back against a controversial workplace review directive by Elon Musk, who has been tasked with cutting government inefficiency under the Trump administration.
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) sent an email to federal employees on Saturday, instructing them to submit five bullet points of what they accomplished last week by Monday night. However, Musk, who heads the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), took to X (formerly Twitter) to warn that failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.
The move triggered swift resistance, with some federal agencies advising staff not to comply immediately.
On Sunday, the Department of Defense (DoD) instructed employees to pause any response, asserting that the Pentagon would handle performance reviews independently.
Similar refusals were reportedly issued by Trump-appointed officials at the FBI, State Department, and Office of National Intelligence.
New FBI Director Kash Patel, a Trump loyalist, informed staff that the FBI, through the office of the director, is in charge of all our review processes.
Meanwhile, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the largest federal employee union, blasted the move as an irresponsible and sophomoric attempt to bully hardworking public servants.
In a letter to the OPM, the union vowed to challenge any unlawful dismissals and criticised the decision to give Musk unprecedented control over federal workforce policies.
Trump appointed Musk, the world’s richest person and a major political donor, to lead DOGE, an advisory body tasked with slashing public spending and eliminating inefficiency in government operations.
However, Musk’s aggressive cost-cutting tactics have faced legal challenges and internal opposition, raising concerns over how much authority he truly wields over federal employment decisions.
