By John Oyewale, Daily Caller News Foundation | February 23, 2025
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel, National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, and the State Department have told their employees to hold off responding to the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) email asking federal employees to justify their work, according to multiple reports.
“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,” the message from Patel partly read, the outlet reported.
“The power struggles begin,” Dilanian claimed.
Department of Government Efficiency head Elon Musk posted Saturday that all federal employees would receive an email tracking their productivity during the past workweek. Employees who did not respond would be regarded as having resigned, Musk added.
The resignation clause angered and amazed some at the FBI and the Department of Justice, The New York Times reported. Questions about the legality of the resignation clause and data security of any employee who would respond to the email swirled, according to The Washington Post.
The OPM sent the email Saturday, asking federal workers for a five-bullet-point list of their accomplished tasks — excluding classified information — by midnight Monday.
By excluding classified information, the OPM appeared to have signaled that the FBI and certain other federal agencies were exempt.
The email did not echo Musk‘s words that anyone who failed to respond would face resignation, The National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) said.
Government agencies and divisions within the same agencies reportedly responded to the OPM’s email in conflicting ways.
National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard ordered the Intelligence Community employees not to respond, citing “the inherently sensitive and classified nature of our work,” according to the outlet.
The State Department instructed its employees to ignore it, according to the Washington Post. The State Department “will respond on behalf of the Department,” read a message from Tibor P. Nagy, acting undersecretary of state for management. “No employee is obligated to report their activities outside of their Department chain of command.”
The Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency reportedly said the opposite. Some National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) employees received instructions to draft but not yet send a response, the Washington Post added.
“It is possible that this new message sent outside of normal business hours was sent in error and/or is a phishing attempt,” said an email to some staff from NOAA leadership. “Until such time as we can verify that the message that was received … is authentic, please do not respond.”
The State Department offered to respond on behalf of its employees, according to The New York Times.
The Department of Defense reportedly issued a statement similar to that of Patel.
“NFFE believes this email and the threat by Elon Musk are illegal. We advise you to forward the email to your immediate supervisor and ask for their guidance,” the NFFE said in part.
“OPM and Elon Musk do not have legal authority to take personnel action based on this request. This is yet another ploy by the Trump Administration and Elon Musk to create an atmosphere of intimidation and is not a legal manner to manage America’s largest workforce,” the NFFE added.
“[I] can only imagine how many people they’ll fire based on the responses/non-responses to this,” a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) employee told The Business Insider.
The email reportedly left one Department of Health and Human Services’ Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT) member feeling in limbo. “I have another job like the rest of us and I don’t need this type of stress,” the DMAT member told the Insider. “Maybe I’ll just resign.”
John Oyewale is a contributor at the Daily Caller News Foundation
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