'What did you do last week? Part II': Trump to US federal workers

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
Today 15:23

The message followed an initial email sent a week earlier by billionaire Elon Musk, whom Trump appointed to lead efforts to downsize the federal workforce.

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U.S. and agency flags fly outside the Theodore Roosevelt Building, the location of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, on Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024, in Washington (AP)

A second email urging US federal employees to justify their jobs was sent on Friday as part of President Donald Trump's initiative to cut government spending, according to media reports.

The message followed an initial email sent a week earlier by billionaire Elon Musk, whom Trump appointed to lead efforts to downsize the federal workforce. The first mass email, sent to the government’s two million employees, instructed them to justify their work or risk termination, causing confusion as multiple federal agencies advised staff to disregard it.

According to reports from The New York Times, NPR, and CBS News, the second email, sent late Friday from the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM), once again asked workers to submit a response detailing their accomplishments. This time, it specified that the task would become a weekly requirement.

'What did you do last week? Part II'

With the subject line "What did you do last week? Part II," the email was sent to employees across several agencies, including the FBI, the Treasury Department, and the Department of Homeland Security. Unlike the initial message, it also set a firm deadline, instructing employees to submit their responses by the end of Monday each week moving forward.

For those handling classified or sensitive work, the email provided an alternative response: "All of my activities are sensitive."

Unlike the first round, this time, individual agencies were responsible for distributing the message, with CBS reporting that each department was given discretion on whether to send it.

Musk, who heads the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) advisory body tasked with reducing public spending and addressing alleged waste and corruption, has not commented on X regarding the latest emails. However, he previously described the original email as “basically a check to see if the employee had a pulse and was capable of replying to an email.”

Trump, commenting on his platform Truth Social, praised Musk for "doing a great job" but added, "I would like to see him get more aggressive."