Federal workers face second Musk deadline to explain their work last week

Elon Musk speaks as President Donald Trump holds a Cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2025. (Pool via AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal employees face a midnight deadline to comply with Elon Musk ‘s second demand for reports on their recent accomplishments, a request that has become a flashpoint within the government workforce.

Musk and President Donald Trump have suggested that employees who don’t comply could get fired. They’ve also described the requirement -- a list of five things that each person did last week -- as an unobjectionable way to increase accountability within a sprawling bureaucracy.

But for many workers, the request has been a source of anxiety and confusion as the new administration tightens its grip on the federal government. Some agencies are still telling their workforces not to respond or to limit what they say in response, just as they did after Musk’s first request last month.

Judging by instructions that have circulated in recent days, the workforce will face a standing request for lists of accomplishments every Monday. There are roughly 2.4 million federal workers excluding active-duty military and postal workers, 80% of whom are based outside of the Washington, D.C. metro area.

At the Food and Drug Administration, employees received three emails Monday on the topic -- the first at about 6:45 a.m. Eastern letting them know about the request, the second before 8 a.m. telling them to await guidance, and the third after 11:30 a.m. explaining how they should respond.

Employees were told to write back with “a high level of generality” and not include any sensitive data, discuss specific grants or identify colleagues that they’re working with.

There was similar guidance at the Department of Energy, which plays a key role in managing the country’s nuclear arsenal.

“Do not include any sensitive or classified information, and do not send any links or attachments,” wrote Energy Secretary Chris Wright. “If all your activities are sensitive, please reply `All of my activities are sensitive.”'

Meanwhile, the State Department on Saturday told its workforce that department leadership would respond on their behalf. And the Federal Bureau of Prisons said employees could respond that “disclosure of my duties may compromise institution security or operations.”

Justice Department employees were told after the initial request last week that they didn’t need to respond “due to the confidential and sensitive nature of the Department’s work.” But on Monday, employees were told that “effective immediately,” they should follow the instructions in the email from the Office of Personnel Management.

Meanwhile, the FBI workforce was told that Director Kash Patel’s previous guidance instructing employees to hold off on responding “remains in effect until further notice.”

The initial demand for lists of five accomplishments came last month. The Office of Personnel Management eventually told agencies that it was optional despite Musk’s threat of layoffs for noncompliance.

This time, some of the requests came from individual agencies, which have the power to hire, fire and discipline workers.

Musk described the requirement as a “pulse check” during Trump’s first Cabinet meeting of his second term.

“Do you have a pulse and two neurons?” he said. “So if you have a pulse and two neurons, you can reply to an email.”

Associated Press writers Matthew Perrone, Rebecca Santana, Matthew Lee, Michael Sisak and Alanna Durkin Richer contributed to this report.