In a development that may lead to significant discord within the federal government, the Department of Defense (DOD) has instructed its civilian employees to disregard a request from Elon Musk, the billionaire head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk had demanded that all federal civilian personnel respond to an email detailing their recent accomplishments.

The directive to civilian staff was issued by Darin S. Selnick, the acting undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness. He advised employees to inform Musk, who communicated through the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), that their department would evaluate their performance independently, rather than responding to Musk and DOGE.

For context, Musk had previously announced via a post on X (formerly Twitter) that all federal civilian employees would be required to report their achievements. He warned that failure to respond would be interpreted as a resignation. He stated, “In accordance with President @realDonaldTrump’s directives, all federal employees will soon receive an email requesting a summary of their accomplishments from the previous week. Non-responsiveness will be viewed as a resignation.”

Musk later clarified that the purpose of the email was to identify employees who are either absent or disengaged from their roles, asserting, “To clarify, the expectations are minimal. A brief email with a few coherent bullet points is sufficient! It should take no more than five minutes to compose.”

He further emphasized, “This is important because a considerable number of individuals who are supposed to be serving the government are doing so little that they are not even checking their emails! In some instances, we suspect that fictitious identities or deceased individuals are being used to receive paychecks. This indicates potential fraud.”

The email, reportedly sent on Sunday, February 23, requested recipients to respond with approximately five bullet points outlining their achievements from the previous week and to copy their manager on the response. Recipients were instructed not to include any classified information.

Mr. Selnick instructed civilian Department of Defense personnel to disregard the email, stating, as reported by Fox News Digital, “DoD personnel may have received an email from OPM requesting information. The Department of Defense is tasked with evaluating the performance of its personnel and will carry out any review in accordance with its established procedures.”