The Trump administration’s mass email asking federal employees what they worked on last week — and Elon Musk’s suggestion that anyone who does not respond will be dismissed — has prompted a cascade of questions and confusion for workers across government.
While some federal agencies are advising workers to hold off on responding, and unions for the employees are vowing to bring legal challenges, leaders in other parts of the government are telling employees to comply.
Here’s what officials are telling their workers at several departments and agencies:
Department of Defense: Pentagon leadership is officially advising employees not to respond at this time to the emails, which was sent by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).
“The Department of Defense is responsible for reviewing the performance of its personnel and will conduct any review in accordance with its own procedures,” acting Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Darin Selnick wrote. “When and if required, the department will coordinate responses to the email you have received from OPM. For now, please pause any response to the OPM email titled ‘What did you do last week.’”
Multiple senior Defense Department officials told CNN the email thrust their weekend into chaos as they tried to determine what to tell employees about how to respond.
Department of Homeland Security: DHS personnel received a message from the department’s deputy under secretary for management, R.D. Alles, telling them not to respond for now, according to an email obtained by CNN.
“DHS management will respond on behalf of the department and all of its component offices,” the email, dated Sunday, reads. “No reporting action from you is needed at this time. For now, please pause any responses outside of your DHS chain of command.”
Social Security Administration: Social Security workers are being told to comply with the email’s instructions.
In an email titled “Time Sensitive: ‘Accomplishments’ Assignment,” workers were told that the OPM email was legitimate and that they should comply with the request to list five bullet points on what they’ve done.
Staffers were encouraged to identify their most “impactful, mission-critical work accomplishments” in the email, which was reviewed by CNN. The email noted that employees should not include any sensitive or confidential information.
Department of Health and Human Services: HHS told employees Sunday morning that the OPM email was legitimate and that staffers should read and respond to it by the 11:59 p.m. ET Monday deadline. But the agency reversed its guidance Sunday afternoon, telling employees to “pause” activities in answering the email. The second email noted that HHS leadership is working with OPM officials on how best meet the office’s email intent “while being mindful of the sensitivity of the information and initiatives” at the agency. Employees will get additional guidance on Monday on how to meet the deadline.
Employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration, which are part of HHS, had already been told by individual agencies to wait until Monday for more guidance. On Sunday afternoon, staffers at these divisions received the email from HHS telling them to pause responding.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: Employees at the bureau, which the Trump administration is hoping to dismantle, received an email from the agency’s chief operating officer on Sunday directing them to respond to the OPM email by the Monday night deadline.
However, many of the bureau’s employees were told to stop working by acting head Russell Vought earlier this month. So the email they received Sunday said: “CFPB Leadership understands that certain work tasks have stopped. If you were not able to perform tasks/work as a result, you may reply and simply reference that you were complying with the current work stoppage.”
This post has been updated with additional agencies.
CNN’s Meg Tirrell contributed to this report.