By admin 
Washington, D.C.:
Ahead of the Monday deadline, the Trump administration appears to be backing away from Elon Musk’s controversial mandate requiring all federal employees to submit a list of five accomplishments from the past week or face dismissal.
On Saturday, Musk, a billionaire ally of President Donald Trump, announced via his social media platform, X, that federal employees would receive an email instructing them to justify their work. Those who failed to respond by Monday at 11:59 PM Eastern Time would be considered as having resigned.
However, before the deadline even arrived, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM)—the federal agency overseeing government HR policies—advised agencies that employees would not be dismissed for failing to reply, according to The Washington Post.
Uncertainty Over Compliance
While OPM has expressed support for weekly reporting by government employees, the agency remains uncertain about what to do with the responses it has already received and reportedly has “no plans” to analyze them.
Musk’s email was sent to millions of federal employees, including judges and legislative branch workers, creating confusion among agencies that struggled to interpret the directive.
Pushback From Federal Agencies
Several government agencies, including the FBI (led by Kash Patel), instructed their employees to ignore Musk’s directive, citing concerns about national security and sensitive information.
The scale of Musk’s efforts to restructure the federal workforce has caused significant disruption within the administration, with some agencies refusing to comply, while others have left the possibility open that employees who do not respond could still be dismissed.
Tensions Within the Administration
There is growing unease among federal agency leaders regarding Musk’s role within the government. As the head of Trump’s newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Musk has been granted broad authority to reduce the 2.3-million-person federal workforce.
Doug Holtz-Eakin, president of the American Action Forum, a conservative think tank, described the situation as a “full revolt”, noting that while DOGE aims to streamline agencies, many department heads are resisting Musk’s sweeping cuts.
Trump Responds
Addressing the situation from the Oval Office on Monday, President Trump downplayed any tensions between Musk and his administration.
He suggested that the only agencies resisting the mandate were those handling sensitive information, such as the FBI and the State Department.
“They don’t mean that in any way combatively, with Elon. They’re just saying there are some people that you don’t really want to have telling you what they were working on last week. Other than that, everyone thought it was a pretty ingenious idea,” Trump stated.
Despite Trump’s reassurances, the controversy over Musk’s role in federal workforce management remains unresolved.
Gill Bikram Singh