US President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk are not in a mood to waste time as they implemented quick changes to the federal government. Musk has been officially granted the ‘special government employee’ title and will also lead a task force of people at the DOGE – Department of Government Efficiency, alongside Vivek Ramaswamy. As per the President, the primary objective of the organization is simple – ‘dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies’. And on Saturday (February 22), Musk revealed an ultimatum for federal employees in the form of an email.
The instruction that went to the employees via email has clear statements that officials must explain what they’ve been to in the last week and if they don’t manage to respond by 11.59 pm ET on Monday, their contract is likely to be terminated. Taking to Twitter yesterday, Musk tweeted, “Consistent with President @realDonaldTrump’s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week. Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”
Consistent with President @realDonaldTrump’s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week.
Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 22, 2025
So, how did the email read then? Well, one person who received the notification posted a picture of it online. “Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager,” it read. “Please do not send any classified information, links, or attachments. Deadline is this Monday at 11:59pmEST.”
Reports state that this mail landed in the inboxes of the employees that came after Donald Trump’s appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), with the email’s subject reading: “What did you do last week?” Meanwhile, emails obtained by CNN also showed they were marked as highly important, with the Tesla Billionaire mentioning the resignation of employees s a result of a non response similarly not included.
If any of the hundreds of employees who work for me refused to send a very short email with 5 bullet points and copying their manager, with 48hrs notice (!!) no less, they would no longer be employed. This is not controversial.
The unhinged reaction is proof the culture of the…
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) February 23, 2025
However, these drastic changes haven’t been taken well by people. FBI director Kash Patel has advised the employees not to immediately respond, saying, “The FBI, through the Office of the Director, is in charge of all of our review processes, and will conduct reviews in accordance with FBI procedures. When and if further information is required, we will coordinate the responses. For now, please pause any responses.”
