US department heads have told employees to ignore Elon Musk’s latest email (Image: Getty)
Donald Trump’s new intelligence chief has joined the high-ranking Republicans seemingly taking a stand against ‘s radical slashing of the US federal budget.
Musk recruited the Government’s Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to demand that federal workers list five things they had accomplished in the last week on Saturday.
The justified the move on his social media platform X, suggesting that some employees weren’t fulfilling their work quotas and that the email was designed to weed out those who “had a pulse and two working neurons”.
He said the request had been “consistent with ‘s instructions” and that “failure to respond will be taken as a resignation”.
Trump’s new-appointed Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is among the department heads who appeared to break ranks with the Tesla CEO, however, telling employees not to reply to the email.
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Tulsi Gabbard is among the department heads seemingly breaking ranks with Musk (Image: Getty)
In an apparent sign of division within the Republican administration, FBI Director Kash Patel, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth and Department of Homeland Security Chief Kristi Noem also told workers to ignore Musk’s demands.
Gabbard, who was confirmed in her role earlier this month, told officials: “Given the inherently sensitive and classified nature of our work, Intelligence Community (IC) employees should not respond to the OPM email”.
It comes amid a wider overhaul of the federal government carried out by Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), aimed at drastically cutting the US’ $36 trillion debt.
The multi-billionaire has already faced legal action against his ruthless plans to slim down the Washington machine, which as involved laying off over 20,000 workers and reportedly saving around $55 billion from the budget in just 30 days.
The US’ biggest federal workers’ union, the American Federation of Government, also questioned Musk’s authority to fire employees who didn’t respond to the email.
AFGE President Everett Kelly said in a statement: “[This] thoughtless and bullying email was meant to intimidate federal employees and cause mass confusion.
“Agencies across the federal government have acknowledged that confusion and that they were unaware the email was being sent.”
“EXTREMELY troubling that some parts of government think this is TOO MUCH!!” Musk responded on X over the weekend. “What is wrong with them??”
Meanwhile, Republican senator John Curtis suggested that Musk’s approach to down-sizing the federal workforce was well-intentioned but could be more “humane” during a recent TV appearance.
“If I could say one thing to , it’s ‘Please put a dose of compassion in this,’” he told CBS News. “These are real people. These are real lives. These are mortgages. It’s a false narrative to say we have to cut and you have to be cruel to do it as well. We can do both.”