Shortly earlier than 11 a.m. on Sunday, the 80,000 physicians, well being scientists, illness detectives, and others tasked with safeguarding the nation’s well being acquired directions to reply to an e mail despatched the day earlier than asking them, “What did you do final week?”
The e-mail arose from a Saturday dispatch issued by President Donald Trump on the social-media platform he owns, Reality Social. “ELON IS DOING A GREAT JOB, BUT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE HIM GET MORE AGGRESSIVE,” he wrote.
The response from Elon Musk arrived seven hours afterward the social-media platform he owns, X. The billionaire Trump confidant main the hassle to slash the federal workforce wrote that afternoon that he was appearing on Trump’s “directions” and making certain that “all federal staff will shortly obtain an e mail requesting to know what they obtained executed final week.”
The end result was a government-wide e mail directing federal employees to element their accomplishments over the earlier week, in 5 bullet factors. Musk wrote on X: “Failure to reply will probably be taken as a resignation.”
The directive despatched companies scrambling to inform their staff what to do. Some instructed them to not reply. Others made clear {that a} reply was necessary. After which there was the Division of Well being and Human Providers—an epicenter of the chaos engulfing Washington.
“This can be a reputable e mail,” learn Sunday morning’s directions from HHS, which suggested staff to reply by the deadline set for 11:59 p.m. ET on Monday.
However later that day, the instructions modified. Staff have been instructed to “pause” answering the e-mail, in keeping with new steering despatched Sunday at 5 p.m., which pointed to issues concerning the sensitivity of division enterprise. HHS promised that up to date steering would arrive Monday at midday.
By late afternoon on Monday, many federal well being employees had left their workplaces with no new steering, unsure about whether or not to reply to the e-mail and whether or not ignoring it might jeopardize their jobs.
They didn’t know that the federal authorities’s essential personnel company, which had despatched Saturday’s government-wide e mail, had quietly instructed companies noon Monday {that a} response was voluntary. These directions successfully rescinded Musk’s threats.
For Musk, the episode was a setback. For federal employees struggling to get their bearings, they instructed us it was simply another reason to really feel each fury and concern.
“This complete administration is a fucking prepare wreck,” a federal well being official stated.
The shifting and contradictory directions divided Trump’s Cupboard, and for the primary time, created daylight between Musk and the White Home. Even earlier than the administration formally conceded that responses have been voluntary, Trump advisers had privately signaled assist for company heads who instructed their staff to not reply to the e-mail, owing to the sensitivity of their work.
Many of the pushback to the Musk directive got here from the nation’s national-security companies, together with the CIA, the FBI, and the Division of Homeland Safety. A senior official at NASA, which suggested staff to not reply, known as the request an “unprecedented ask and unprompted assault on our workforce” in a weekend e mail to staff that was described to us. A deputy commander on the Navy instructed folks in his chain of command, “Please do NOT reply right now,” accenting his order utilizing daring crimson textual content.
The cascading sequence of contradictory steering mirrored the bizarre steadiness of energy between Trump and Musk, and the unpredictable penalties for hundreds of thousands of federal employees. “It’s a psyop,” stated a senior official on the Division of Veterans Affairs, referring to a psychological operation, on this case meant to intimidate federal employees. “It’s a type of harassment. However there’s nobody to complain to as a result of nobody is aware of precisely the place it’s coming from or who’s behind it.”
The president’s Saturday morning submit spurred Musk to confer along with his deputies on the Division of Authorities Effectivity and develop the rapidly written e mail, in keeping with a White Home official. The e-mail was despatched by the Workplace of Personnel Administration, now staffed at senior ranges by Musk’s deputies. They instructed company staff that they meant to make use of synthetic intelligence to research the responses and develop stories about additional modifications to the federal workforce, in keeping with an OPM official conversant in their feedback.
Two senior administration officers stated that the haphazard nature of Musk’s directive rankled some within the West Wing, as issues develop that the billionaire’s authority is encroaching on the ability of Cupboard secretaries.
Trump, for his half, publicly backed Musk’s effort. “I believed it was nice as a result of we’ve got those who don’t present as much as work and no person even is aware of in the event that they work for the federal government,” the president instructed reporters throughout an look Monday with French President Emmanuel Macron. “What he’s doing is saying, ‘Are you truly working?’ After which if you happen to don’t reply, you’re type of semi-fired otherwise you’re fired, as a result of lots of people should not answering as a result of they don’t even exist.”
White Home Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt additionally defended the actions: “This was the president’s route to Elon, and it’s being carried out as deliberate,” she stated. “Everybody on the White Home knew very nicely that it was coming.”
The identical can’t be stated for different elements of the federal authorities, the place company heads have been caught off guard and plenty of recipients mistook the e-mail for phishing. Staff on depart or on trip feared that they’d lose their job. At HHS, division management was given only a five-minute warning earlier than the e-mail went out, a senior official on the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention instructed his employees on Monday, in keeping with folks conversant in his account. HHS didn’t reply to a request for remark.
A few of the companies that suggested staff to reply to Musk’s e mail sought to justify the request in steering issued on Monday. John W. York, a senior counselor to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, instructed staff, “The OPM message displays an effort to extend accountability by the federal workforce, simply as there’s within the non-public sector. Given the voluminous and very vital work that Treasury employees carry out each day, we count on that compliance is not going to be tough or time-consuming.”
Round 5 p.m. Monday, HHS lastly issued new steering affirming {that a} reply was not necessary however warning staff who did element their skilled actions to guard delicate information. “Assume that what you write will probably be learn by malign international actors and tailor your response accordingly,” the steering said.
In the meantime, there have been indicators that OPM was working to make elements of the Musk directive everlasting, a minimum of inside the company. In an e mail to staff Monday night, OPM’s appearing director wrote that he had requested the chief human capital officer to “operationalize this train” in order that staff proceed to “submit weekly accomplishment bullets.”
In sure corners of the federal authorities, employees made mild of the Musk request. One Pentagon official instructed a colleague that his reply would come with time spent on Fox Information, Reality Social, and X—extra dependable sources of details about the phrases of his employment than his personal bosses.
“Who’re we taking orders from?” the Pentagon official stated. “Nobody actually is aware of.”
