Kash Patel, the newly minted head of the FBI, is making it clear the bureau does not take marching orders from Elon Musk.

Mr. Patel directed FBI staff to ignore a request from Mr. Musk that all federal employees show the work they’ve accomplished in the last week or be fired.

“FBI personnel may have received an email from OPM requesting information,” Mr. Patel said in his message to employees. “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 response.”

The message came a day after Mr. Musk issued the justify-your-job ultimatum to all federal employees.

“Consistent with President [Donald Trump’s]  instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week,” Mr. Musk said on X on Saturday. “Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management email went out to federal employees shortly after Mr. Musk’s tweet with the subject line, “What did you do last week?”

Included in the email were instructions for employees to list “approx. five bullets of what you accomplished last week and CC your manager,” and asks for federal workers to not list any classified information. Federal workers have until the end of Monday to respond.

However, Mr. Musk’s promise of termination for failure to comply appears nowhere in the email.

Mr. Musk is seeking to cut $1 trillion from the federal deficit.

Mr. Patel was sworn into his post on Friday after the Senate confirmed his nomination by a 51-49 margin.

• Alex Miller contributed to this report.

• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.