Newly appointed FBI Director Kash Patel sent out correspondence to all departments he is in charge of, ordering them to “pause any responses” being formulated to billionaire Elon Musk’s email in which he asked federal employees to justify their jobs or be resigned.
Musk sent an email to federal employees in various departments on Saturday, in which he requested that they “reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished this week and cc your manager.”
He then took to his social media platform, X, to levy the threat of consequences against employees who received the email and justify his reasoning for the order.
“Consistent with President @realDonaldTrump‘s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week,” Musk wrote. “Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”
Consistent with President @realDonaldTrump’s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week.
Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 22, 2025
“To be clear, the bar is very low here. An email with some bullet points that make any sense at all is acceptable! Should take less than 5 mins to write,” Musk continued.
“A large number of good responses have been received already. These are the people who should be considered for promotion,” he wrote in a follow-up post.
While the deadline for responses is by the end of the day on Monday, newly sworn-in FBI Director Kash Patel seemingly disregarded this with emailed instructions sent to FBI employees.
“FBI personnel may have received an email from OPM requesting information. The FBI, through the Office of the Director, is in charge of all of our review processes, and will conduct reviews in accordance with FBI procedures. When and if further information is required, we will coordinate the responses. For now, please pause any responses,” said Patel in the email, obtained by NBC News.
Patel’s sentiment is supported by other bodies seeking to protect federal employees, including The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), who have stated that they will investigate and appeal any unlawful terminations.
“Once again, Elon Musk and the Trump Administration have shown their utter disdain for federal employees and the critical services they provide to the American people,” wrote AFGE national president Everett Kelley, further referring to the administration’s decisions as “cruel and disrespectful.”
Originally published on Latin Times
