On Saturday evening, Elon Musk sent a mass email to all federal workers in the United States, directing them to respond with a list of five bullet points explaining what they had done in their jobs the previous week. In a post to X, Musk added that any federal workers who did not respond to the email by Monday night would be removed from their positions.
The mass email and the X post, which included additional information not in the email, left many concerned and questioning the legality of Musk and his DOGE team. The main concern from many federal workers regarded colleagues on extended leave for maternity or grief who may not have access to their work emails. Others worried that many would disregard the email and not understand the consequences – especially if they did not keep up with Musk on social media.
Despite millions of responses to the email, many federal workers did not respond, prompting Musk to speak out again online. “The email request was utterly trivial, as the standard for passing the test was to type some words and press send! Yet so many failed even that inane test, urged on in some cases by their managers,” he wrote on X. “Have you ever witnessed such INCOMPETENCE and CONTEMPT for how YOUR TAXES are being spent?”
Musk then clarified that a second email would be sent to give anyone who failed to respond to the first one a second chance. “Failure to respond a second time will result in termination,” he added. With millions of emails to sift through, Musk also announced that DOGE would enlist AI to decipher the content of the emails.
The President of the American Federation of Government Employees spoke out on Monday following the mass email condemning Congress for allowing Musk to make major financial decisions, which is a responsibility of the congressional branch.
“It’s inhuman, it’s un-American to treat these federal employees the way that they’re being treated when they are patriotic employees wanting to provide the services for the American people,” Everett Kelley, the head of the Federal Workers Union, added in an interview with MSNBC. “The phone needs to ring off the hook. And I encourage every – not just a federal employee – but every American to stand up with work in America to make sure that the democracy of this country stays intact.”
Even some white house staffers believe the department has gone too far. On Tuesday, February 25, more than 20 DOGE workers resigned, citing a refusal to “dismantle public services” as their reasons for leaving the position. “We swore to serve the American people and uphold our oath to the Constitution across presidential administrations,” the staffers wrote in a joint resignation letter. “However, it has become clear that we can no longer honor those commitments.”
The resigned workers were part of a previous existing department working to modernize the federal government’s social security and other digital departments when they were integrated into the DOGE department.
“We will not use our skills as technologists to compromise core government systems, jeopardize Americans’ sensitive data, or dismantle critical public services,” they said. “We will not lend our expertise to carry out or legitimize DOGE’s actions.”
Despite internal backlash, Trump praises Musk and DOGE, describing the mass email as “genius.”
