Musk’s email had directed each of the nation’s 2.3 million civil-service workers to provide a five-point summary of their work by 11:59 p.m. EST (0459 GMT), raising questions about how much authority the world’s richest person can wield in President Donald Trump’s effort to downsize the U.S. government.
“The email request was utterly trivial, as the standard for passing the test was to type some words and press send!” Musk posted on X, the social media site he owns. “Yet so many failed even that inane test, urged on in some cases by their managers.”
The memo said responding to the email was voluntary. It also urged employees not to share confidential, sensitive or classified information in their responses, a concern of critics of Musk’s action.
A senior manager at the General Services Administration, which manages federal buildings, told employees that the agency was still encouraging workers to answer the email even if it was voluntary, according to a GSA source.
The White House and OPM did not respond to requests for comment.
The countermanding of Musk’s order by some agency leaders was the first sign of internal resistance to his blunt-force approach to downsizing the federal government.
“Assume that what you write will be read by malign foreign actors and tailor your response accordingly,“ the email said.
The billionaire’s Saturday message took some administration officials by surprise, according to two sources familiar with the situation.
In other Monday action, a federal judge blocked the government downsizing team created by Trump and led by Musk from accessing sensitive data maintained by the U.S. Education Department and the OPM.
Also on Monday, a group of labor unions that have asked a federal judge to stop the mass firings updated their lawsuit to request that Musk’s email be ruled illegal.
The Transportation Department, the Treasury Department and independent agencies like the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission have told employees to answer Musk’s message.
His email was also sent to political appointees at the White House who presumably would not be viewed with suspicion by the president, according to two sources.
More than 20,000 workers have been laid off as part of the downsizing effort.
The confusion echoed the broader turmoil surrounding Trump’s return to power.
He has ordered employees of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to cease working, though they also received Musk’s email asking to outline their work activities over the past week. The Trump administration has separately offered buyouts to 75,000 workers.
In some cases, the government has scrambled to rehire workers who perform critical functions like nuclear weapons oversight and bird flu response. The downsizing also prompted a wave of lawsuits.
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