Musk's call for gov staff to justify jobs sparks rift within US admin
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Some US government agencies have defied Elon Musk's demand as his job cuts have impacted the economy and sparked privacy concerns.
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Elon Musk holds a chainsaw during the Conservative Political Action Conference CPAC in Oxon Hill, Maryland, on February 20, 2025. (AP)
Elon Musk's demand that US government workers justify their positions has sparked tensions in President Donald Trump's administration, with some departments instructing employees to answer to the billionaire by Monday night and others instructing them to ignore him.
Musk's directive to the nation's 2.3 million civil-service workers to provide a five-point summary of their work by 11:59 pm Eastern time (0459 GMT) has raised concerns about how much power the world's richest person has in Trump's administration as he leads an effort to reduce the federal payroll.
Consistent with President @realDonaldTrump’s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 22, 2025
Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.
Some agency officials' defiance of Musk's directive was also the first documented internal pushback against Musk's forceful approach to revamping the federal government.
Musk's reduction drive has already resulted in the layoff of over 20,000 employees, and he has warned that those who do not follow his orders risk losing their jobs as well.
However, chiefs from the Defense, State, and Homeland Security departments, as well as the FBI and numerous other agencies, have instructed employees not to respond outside of their established line of command.
The Department of Health and Human Services urged its employees, after previously instructing them to comply, to wait while it found out how to "best meet the intent" of Musk's unexpected demand.
The Transportation Department, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and independent agencies, such as the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission, have directed workers to respond to Musk's message.
"This mess will get sorted out this week," Musk stated. He also revealed separately that those who continue to work remotely will be placed on leave beginning this week.
Since taking office, Trump has frozen billions in international aid, dissolved USAID, and halted operations at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, after Musk's email requesting details on workers' actions.
His administration also offered buyouts to 75,000 employees, while quickly rehiring those in critical roles, leading to lawsuits from unions and Democratic states.
Musk's job cuts have affected the broader US economy, with firms like Chemonics laying off 63% of their staff and his team facing legal challenges over attempts to access sensitive financial and personnel information, leading to privacy concerns.
The billionaire has delighted in the chaos, swinging a chainsaw at a conservative political convention last week. He previously revealed he plans to eliminate $1 trillion from the government's $6.7 trillion budget, and Trump has vowed to slash popular health and retirement benefits, thus excluding about half of the budget, but Musk has stated that he will look into such programs for fraudulent payments.
The Government Accountability Office, a watchdog body, believes that the overall amount of fraud and illegal payments might be as high as $521 billion each year, or 8% of spending last year.
