Elon Musk's email to government officials urges them to 'explain their recent work or resign,' causing tensions in government departments


By Steve Jurvetson

Elon Musk, who supported President Donald Trump in the presidential election , has been appointed head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) , which aims to eliminate waste in the U.S. government. Musk, who is already promoting various measures as head of DOGE, has sent emails to government officials asking them to explain their recent work, and explained on X (formerly Twitter) that if they do not respond to this email, they will be considered to have resigned.

Elon Musk Tells Federal Workers to Detail Work in an Email or Lose Their Jobs - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/22/us/politics/elon-musk-email-federal-employees.html

Elon Musk claims federal employees have 48 hours to explain recent work or resign | The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/news/618069/elon-musk-email-federal-workers-respond-or-resign



Government agencies are giving conflicting guidance on Elon Musk email - The Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/02/23/musk-email-government-agencies/

On February 23, 2025, Elon Musk, who had just taken over as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), posted on X, 'At the direction of the President, all federal employees will soon be receiving an email asking them to explain what they did last week. If they do not respond, they will be considered to have resigned.'




According to a report by The New York Times, the email Musk mentioned, urging employees to 'explain their recent work or resign,' was sent to government agency officials, including the FBI and the State Department, on the afternoon of the 23rd. Although the deadline for responses to the email was set to 'February 24th, 11:59 p.m.', the explanation that Musk mentioned, 'if there is no response, it will be considered resignation,' does not appear to be included in the email.

X also released screenshots of emails received by government officials requesting clarification on recent work.




'The problem is that a significant number of people who are supposed to be working for the government are barely doing their job and never checking their email. In some cases, fictitious or dead people are being used to receive their paychecks. This is clearly fraud,' Musk said. However, The Verge pointed out that Musk has not presented any evidence that government officials are committing fraud.



'This email asks some government officials to violate federal law,' said Sam Bagenstos, a law professor at the University of Michigan.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries issued a statement criticizing Musk's arbitrary actions, saying, 'Elon Musk has traumatized hardworking federal workers, their children and their families. Mr. Musk has no legal authority to make these demands.'

LEADER JEFFRIES STATEMENT ON FEDERAL WORKERS – Congressman Hakeem Jeffries
https://jeffries.house.gov/2025/02/23/leader-jeffries-statement-on-federal-workers/



The Verge points out that 'Musk's performance this time is the same approach he took when he acquired Twitter, when he demanded engineers review their code and told them to 'accept a hardcore workplace or leave.' '

Senior officials at at least some agencies, including the FBI and the State Department, have reportedly told their staff to 'wait for instructions on how to respond,' while Bridget Bean, the acting director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), has told staff to comply with 'legitimate requests,' The Washington Post reported.

In addition, Axios reported that labor unions such as the American Federation of Federal Employees and the National Treasury Employees Union have told employees not to respond yet. CNN reporter Pete Muntean reported that the National Air Traffic Controllers Association criticized the email as an 'unnecessary interruption to vulnerable systems.'




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