The Department of Defense has instructed its personnel not to respond to a request from the Office of Personnel Management asking for a list of five things they accomplished in the last week.
Federal workers across several agencies received an email from OPM asking them to document five things they accomplished in the past week, while Elon Musk, whom the president has tasked with overseeing the Department of Government Efficiency, said those who don’t reply would risk losing their jobs.
MUSK DEFENDS WORK PRODUCTIVITY REPORT REQUIREMENT
The email from OPM had the subject line, “What did you do last week?” and it said, “Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager,” with a warning not to include classified information.
“The Department of Defense is responsible for reviewing the performance of its personnel and it will conduct any review in accordance with its own procedures,” Darin Selnick, who is performing the duties of undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, said in a statement.
“When and if required, the Department will coordinate response to the email you have received from OPM,” he added. “For now, please pause any response to the OPM email titled, ‘What did you do last week.’”
Newly sworn-in FBI Director Kash Patel told FBI employees that they should “pause any responses” to the OPM memo as well.
Despite the pushback from several agencies, Musk described the initiative as a “low bar.”
Senior Pentagon leaders have announced their intent to fire roughly 5,400 probationary employees, which amounts to between a 5-8% decrease in the workforce. Selnick said the separations could begin as soon as this week and added that they will implement a hiring freeze as well.
PENTAGON TO LAY OFF ABOUT 5,400 PROBATIONARY EMPLOYEE, POSSIBLY MORE
The department is also seeking to identify around $50 billion worth of “low-impact and low-priority Biden-legacy programs” that they could defund in order to reallocate that money into programs that more closely align with President Donald Trump‘s agenda, Robert Salesses, who is performing the duties of deputy secretary of defense, announced last week.
President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth have said their priorities for the military are to secure the southern border, build a comprehensive homeland aerial defense system, which they have called the “Iron Dome for America,” and to end the department’s diversity and inclusion efforts.