It is a clear call for disobedience in the face of Elon Musk’s appalling injunctions. On Sunday, the Pentagon and other agencies of the United States government, including the federal police (FBI), asked their teams not to respond to the email requiring that federal officials justify their activities.
Somed by Donald Trump to be “more aggressive” in his mission to slash in public spending, Elon Musk, at the head of the Department of Government Effectiveness (DOGE), had enjoined federal officials to respond to an email on Saturday by accounting for their recent work, under penalty of interrupting their contract.
“What did you do last week?”
“The Ministry of Defense is responsible for the performance assessment of his staff and he will conduct any examination in agreement with his own procedures,” wrote Darin Selnick, a Pentagon official, in a statement published on Sunday on X. Darin Selnick asks, “for the moment”, to “suspend any response” to email sent on Saturday by OPM, the office responsible for the management of civil servants, ” last”.
In addition, according to The New York Timesthe FBI, the State Department or the National Intelligence have also advised their employees not to answer them. “The FBI, through the director’s office, is in charge of all evaluation procedures,” wrote Kash Patel, the new director of the federal police, appointed by Donald Trump.
In an email received on Saturday by federal officials, the OPM required an answer by Monday evening, describing five tasks accomplished during the previous week and by copying its manager. They were asked not to share confidential information. Elon Musk, boss of SpaceX, Tesla and owner of the social network X, had announced a little earlier that “the lack of response” would be considered a “resignation”. The email received by civil servants did not relay this threat.
“Add a dose of compassion”
Elon Musk is regularly criticized for his management methods deemed brutal. “If I could say one thing to Elon Musk, it would be ‘please, add a dose of compassion in there. They are real people. These are real lives’,” said CBS, the republican senator of Utah, John Curtis. “It is a false argument to say that we have to save money and be cruel at the same time,” he added.
This call from several agencies of the Trump administration not to obey the injunction of its close advisor is part of a very tense context within the federal state. In five weeks, the government of the republican billionaire implemented measures, under the leadership of Elon Musk, aimed at dismissing entire staff. Thousands of administration employees during trials have been dismissed. Incitted to resign in exchange for a payment maintained until the end of September, some 75,000 civil servants also agreed to leave their posts, according to American media. Aimed by the last degreasing movement announced on Friday, the Defense Department must reduce its workforce by at least 5 % from next week.
“Total contempt for federal employees”
Faced with the outcry aroused by his ultimatum to civil servants, Elon Musk then specified his thought: “An email with a few points that would hold the road will do the trick!”. AFGE, the main union of federal officials, has promised to challenge any “illegal” contract. “Once again, Elon Musk and the Trump administration have shown their total contempt for federal employees and the essential services they render to the American people,” said Everett Kelley, president of AFGE.
On Sunday, Elon Musk, who received a chainsaw a few days earlier from the Argentinian president Javier Milei, a symbol of his public spending program, justified. “A large number of people who are supposed to work for the government do so little that they never consult their mailboxes,” he wrote. “In some cases, we believe that there are people who do not exist or identities of deceased people are used to recover wages. In other words, it is a pure and simple fraud” “, he said, without supporting his remarks.