Elon Musk posted Saturday on his social media site, X, that failure to reply to the email from the Office of Personnel Management would be taken as a resignation. The email had the subject line “What did you do last week?”
Though Musk, the world’s wealthiest person, has been deputized by President Trump to oversee drastic federal layoffs, the sprawling Justice Department is the latest agency to tell employees to disregard the demand.
“DOJ employees do not need to respond to the email from OPM. If you have already responded to the email, no further action is needed,” wrote Suzanne Belle, deputy director and chief of staff of the Justice Department, in a Monday morning email. Similar language was used in a message to staff sent by another Justice Department official Monday.
At least one Justice Department agency had already directed employees not to reply to the OPM email. FBI Director Kash Patel said in an email to staff Saturday that they should “pause any responses.”
The State Department, Department of Homeland Security and Pentagon also directed employees to disregard the email.
The Pentagon also posted on X that, “The Department of Defense is responsible for reviewing the performance of its personnel and it will conduct any review in accordance with its own procedures.”
