Newly appointed FBI Director Kash Patel has instructed agency employees to refrain from responding to an email from the Donald Trump administration that requested federal workers to list their accomplishments from the past week. The directive comes as billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk intensifies efforts to significantly reduce the size of the federal government.
Hundreds of thousands of federal employees had been given just over 48 hours to report their achievements to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), creating confusion within key agencies, including the United States’ top law enforcement body, the FBI.
However, Patel, who was confirmed by the Senate on Thursday, countered the directive. As reported by ABC News, the FBI is now seeking additional guidance from the U.S. Department of Justice regarding how to proceed.
“FBI personnel may have received an email from OPM requesting information,” Patel stated in a message to his employees. “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.”
Patel’s statement came amid reports that he might also be appointed as the acting head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), another domestic law enforcement agency that, like the FBI, falls under the Department of Justice.
Meanwhile, U.S. Attorney John Durham, the chief federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of New York, similarly instructed his staff to hold off on responding to the OPM request.
“Of course, a majority of our work is law enforcement sensitive (in addition to much classified work), so even assuming this is legitimate, we will need to be careful in how we respond to this inquiry. As noted, the deadline isn’t until 11:59 p.m. on Monday, so we have plenty of time,” Durham wrote in his communication.
Additionally, the Department of Defense also issued a similar directive.
“The Department of Defense is responsible for reviewing the performance of its personnel and will conduct any review in accordance with its own procedures,” the department’s undersecretary for personnel and readiness stated in a message, according to CNN’s Natasha Bertrand. “When and if required, the department will coordinate responses to the email you have received from OPM.”
While multiple federal agencies resisted the directive, Trump’s national health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., took a different approach. Unlike Patel, Durham, and the Department of Defense, Kennedy required his staff to comply with the OPM request.
“This is a legitimate email,” Kennedy’s agency informed its employees in an email. “Please read and respond per the instructions.”
The controversy stems from Musk’s expanded role in Donald Trump’s second administration, where he has been tasked with overseeing efforts to cut government spending. Musk signaled the sweeping directive through his social media platform on Saturday.
“Consistent with [Trump’s] instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week,” Musk posted on X, the platform he owns. “Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”
Shortly after Musk’s post, federal employees—including judges, court staff, and officials from federal prisons—received an email that read: “Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager.”
The deadline for responses was set for Monday at 11:59 p.m., but the email itself did not include Musk’s social media warning that failure to reply would be considered a resignation.
Musk’s directive has created further upheaval across already strained federal agencies, including the National Weather Service, the State Department, and the federal court system. Senior officials scrambled to verify the email’s legitimacy and, in some instances, directed their employees to ignore the request.
Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), which represents 800,000 federal workers, issued a strong statement condemning the directive.
“Elon Musk and the Trump administration have shown their utter disdain for federal employees and the critical services they provide to the American people,” Kelley said.
“It is cruel and disrespectful to hundreds of thousands of veterans who are wearing their second uniform in the civil service to be forced to justify their job duties to this out-of-touch, privileged, unelected billionaire who has never performed one single hour of honest public service in his life,” Kelley added.
The administration’s aggressive approach to reducing government employment has already resulted in the forced departure of thousands of federal employees. Over the past month, both newly hired and long-term government workers have been dismissed or offered buyouts as part of sweeping workforce reductions.
Musk and the White House’s newly formed “Department of Government Efficiency” (Doge) have instructed agency leaders to prepare for “large-scale reductions in force” while freezing trillions of dollars in federal grant allocations.
While there is no official count of total layoffs or firings, the Associated Press has estimated that hundreds of thousands of employees across the country have been affected. Many of these job cuts have impacted agencies outside Washington, D.C., including the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Internal Revenue Service, and the National Park Service.
Musk has been openly celebrating his role in these reductions. At a recent conservative gathering, he brandished a massive chainsaw in the air, calling it “the chainsaw for bureaucracy.”
“Waste is pretty much everywhere in the federal government,” Musk declared.