The head of the new cost-cutting effort added that some federal agencies will respond on behalf of employees to a mass email.
Adviser to President Donald Trump, Elon Musk, said Saturday that some federal agencies will respond on behalf of employees to an email asking what federal workers did in the past week and that all agencies are cooperating with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which was created last month to cut waste, fraud, and excess spending.
“All federal government departments are cooperating with DOGE,” he wrote.
For the Departments of State, Defense Department, and “a few others, the supervisors are gathering the weekly accomplishments on behalf of individual contributors,” Musk wrote on his social media platform, X.
All federal government departments are cooperating with @DOGE.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 1, 2025
For State, DoD and a few others, the supervisors are gathering the weekly accomplishments on behalf of individual contributors.
Over the weekend, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) sent out a second round of emails to multiple agencies asking all federal employees to list five things they accomplished that week.
Earlier on Saturday, Musk said in a separate X post that responding to the email “is mandatory for the executive branch” and that “anyone working on classified or other sensitive matters is still required to respond if they receive the email, but can simply reply that their work is sensitive.”
The President has made it clear that this is mandatory for the executive branch.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 1, 2025
Anyone working on classified or other sensitive matters is still required to respond if they receive the email, but can simply reply that their work is sensitive. https://t.co/lSyfj8eMzR
An email that was sent to Defense Department civilian employees, seen by The Epoch Times, provided guidance to the “what you did last week” email and said employees must respond to it within 48 hours. “A response to this email satisfies all OPM requirements for the past two weeks,” the email to Pentagon employees added.
Musk, with Trump’s backing, has pressed for the emails as a means to hold workers accountable and as a “pulse check” to make sure all federal employees on the payroll actually exist.
The emails are part of broader efforts by Musk and DOGE to downsize the federal government and reduce spending. Musk and Trump have said that the organization is needed to find and eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse. Democratic lawmakers and labor unions have criticized DOGE, saying that widespread cuts could hamper crucial government functions and services.
