On Saturday, employees throughout the federal government received an email from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), demanding a reply with “approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week.” On X, Elon Musk posted that failure to respond “will be taken as a resignation.” The result? Confusion, chaos, and resentment among a federal workforce that increasingly feels under attack.
“So fucking dumb,” says one air traffic controller who received the email and was granted anonymity for fear of retribution. The National Air Traffic Controllers Association, the union that represents ATC personnel, told its members not to respond until Federal Aviation Administration leadership provided guidance.
Leaders of many agencies appear to have been caught off guard. At the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which houses the National Weather Service, some managers initially cautioned against replying to the email in case it was a phishing attempt. Another NOAA employee says they were cautioned not to log on to their work email after receiving it.
Other workers were met with conflicting guidance from their managers. At the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which is anticipating deep cuts orchestrated by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), some employees reported being told to await further guidance while others say their managers instructed people to comply.
The email appears to have been sent even to federal judges. “We understand that some judges and judiciary staff have received an email from [email protected],” read an email from the director’s office of the Department of Administrative Services for US Federal Courts. “Please be advised that this email did not originate from the Judiciary or the Administrative Office and we suggest that no action be taken.”
At least some military personnel also received the email and have been told to await guidance from the Department of Defense. That holding pattern appears to be the response at most agencies, where workers say they have not heard from senior leadership if and how they should handle this latest escalation in Musk and DOGE’s ongoing efforts to dramatically reduce the federal workforce. At the National Institutes of Health, for instance, in an email with the subject line “Please Await Guidance,” some workers were told that “information is forthcoming,” without any indication of when or from whom.
Another consideration for many is not only whether they should reply but how. While the OPM email specified that employees should not send classified information, links, or attachments, that severely limits how workers at many government agencies might be able to respond.
“National security staff are getting notified of OPM’s request, which is taking them from the important work of ensuring national security interests,” said one source, who was granted anonymity due to the nature of their work. “These are essential employees who keep us safe.”
“The Executive Committee is currently reviewing this request to determine appropriate guidelines regarding what information can be shared outside of the agency,” reads an email from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which sits within the Treasury Department. “Please wait for additional guidance.”
NBC News reported Saturday that even Kash Patel, the newly installed Federal Bureau of Investigation director and close ally of President Donald Trump, has instructed employees not to respond to the OPM email. The State Department also told workers not to engage. “The State Department will respond on behalf of the Department,” reads an email from leadership, viewed by WIRED and first reported by journalist Marisa Kabas of the Handbasket. “No employee is obligated to report their activities outside of their Department chain of command.”
This is not the first time that OPM, which operates as effectively the government’s human resources department and is currently run by associates of Musk, has thrown the government into a state of alarm. In late January, OPM sent an email with the subject line “Fork in the Road,” offering deferred resignation to anyone opposed to the new administration’s return-to-office policy or stated desire for employees who are “reliable” and “loyal.”
That email was strikingly similar to one that Musk sent early in his Twitter takeover. Ultimately, according to White House figures, 75,000 emails took the deferred resignation offer; given annual turnover rates in the massive federal workforce, it’s likely that many if not most of those who took the offer were retiring or otherwise set to leave anyway. This latest email also closely resembles one that Musk sent to Twitter staff in June 2023.
While Musk has publicly presented himself as responsible for the email—and is the only source of the forced resignation threat—it’s unclear under what authority he would be able to fire federal employees at will over an email response. The White House has asserted in court documents that Musk is a “senior advisor” rather than the administrator of DOGE or otherwise in a position of real power. “Like other senior White House advisors, Mr. Musk has no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself,” the director of the White House Office of Administration wrote in a sworn statement.
Additional reporting by Andrew Couts, Paresh Dave, Vittoria Elliott, Tim Marchman, Aarian Marshall, and Zoë Schiffer.
Update 2/23/25 10:30 pm ET: This story has been updated with additional details from the FAA and State Department.
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