Let’s just get it out of the way right off the top. No, Elon’s email asking people to list what they did this week in two days or be fired is not “asking federal workers to do what everyone else does”. This is why things, you know, like managers exist. All federal employees already go through annual performance reviews and receive performance scores and some have mid-years and self reviews. There are program managers and other systems in place to track overall work. OK, now that we have that out of the way..
This is really no way to govern or manage. Although, I firmly believe the chaos is part of the design it’s also rather evident that no one really knows what they are doing. Shortly after the email is sent the FBI, State Department, and VA tell’s employees to ignore Musk:
Over the course of the evening top leadership at the FBI, the State Department, the VA, the Department of the Navy (to its civilian employees) and other parts of the government have explicitly instructed employees in their departments and agencies to ignore the email. FBI, State, VA, Navy and others all tell employees to ignore Musk email demanding report
After Musk’s rogue email we see chaos start to unfold:
We’ve got a fascinating story unfolding with the new Musk email I reported on below. And yes, something can be fascinating while also being grave, dangerous and in its own way terrifying. Over the course of the evening top leadership at the FBI, the State Department, the VA, the Department of the Navy (to its civilian employees) and other parts of the government have explicitly instructed employees in their departments and agencies to ignore the email. Meanwhile the DOJ seems to be instructing its employees to follow it. (And yes, FBI is sort of under DOJ and that’s kind of weird but that’s where we are.)
By late Monday afternoon OPM updated instructions ..
.. agencies, according to messages circulated at HHS and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). In a memo obtained by NPR, EEOC said that OPM told agencies to communicate to staff that “any employee response to the email is voluntary” and that “not responding will not be considered a resignation.”
Even as OPM and agencies are directing employees to not respond we have Musk and Trump claiming that those who did not respond were at risk of losing their jobs.
On Monday Musk posted on X that federal workers had “another chance” to comply or face being fired. Trump, speaking in the Oval Office on Monday, made unfounded claims that some federal workers aren’t answering the email because “they don’t even exist.”
Meanwhile employees and contractors are left hanging and wondering who is in charge:
The shifting and at times contradictory guidance has left many federal workers confused and asking who is in charge, according to multiple interviews by NPR with those affected. …. Adding to the confusion, at least some contractors who do work for the government but are not federal employees also received the email asking for their output, NPR has learned.
As expected the internet rose to the occasion and (Elon’s Email Demand Is Being Met With ‘Very Rude’ Flood of Spam)
Two sources familiar with the matter, including a Trump administration official, tell Rolling Stone that the replies to the recent Musk OPM email have been flooded with pranks and, in the words of the Trump official, “very rude” emails listing fake, vulgar “accomplishments,” and even sending links to graphic images of sex and scatological content.
Now athat Elon looks like the actual moron he is, he’s “admitting” that the email was a “ruse” to see if Federal Employees had “two working neurons”. Putting aside the email, I think it’s even more horrific that Federal Employees who have done nothing wrong are being treated as if they are morons because they don’t work in the private sector. It’s disgusting.