Senior Trump administration officials have advised federal employees to disregard a productivity audit email sent by presidential advisor Elon Musk.

According to The Daily Wire, multiple agencies, including the Defense Department, Homeland Security, State Department, FBI, and Office of the Director of National Intelligence, instructed staff not to comply with Musk's directive requesting employees to report their weekly accomplishments.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) sent an email Saturday asking federal workers to reply with "approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week" while copying their managers. The message came shortly after President Trump publicly encouraged Musk to "GET MORE AGGRESSIVE" in his government efficiency efforts.

Security concerns prompt agency pushback

National security experts raised alarms about potential risks associated with compliance to Musk's directive. The collection of sensitive information about federal employees' activities could potentially expose critical data to foreign intelligence agencies if not properly secured.

The Department of Defense quickly countered the OPM email with its own guidance to staff. Pentagon leadership sent a department-wide communication instructing employees to "pause any response to the OPM email titled 'What did you do last week.'" The Defense Department emphasized that it would handle any performance reviews through its own established procedures.

The FBI, under Director Kash Patel, issued similar instructions, asserting that "the FBI, through the office of the director, is in charge of all our review processes." Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard cited "the inherently sensitive and classified nature of our work" as justification for directing staff to ignore the OPM request.

Musk responds to agency resistance

Musk expressed frustration with agencies blocking his productivity assessment initiative. When reports emerged of a Pentagon official describing the email as the "silliest thing in 40 years," Musk responded sharply on his social media platform X: "Anyone with the attitude of that Pentagon official needs to look for a new job."

The tech billionaire, who heads the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) project alongside other Trump administration duties, attempted to demonstrate the simplicity of his request. He shared a response generated by his AI tool Grok, featuring five basic statements a federal employee could use to satisfy the requirement:

This was made using @Grok. The standard @DOGE is asking for in a response is literally this low. EXTREMELY troubling that some parts of government think this is TOO MUCH!! What is wrong with them??

Musk's frustration highlighted the growing tension between his aggressive government efficiency agenda and established agency protocols for handling sensitive information and performance evaluations.

Administrative confusion emerges

The OPM email created significant disruption across federal agencies, forcing senior Trump officials to scramble over the weekend to provide guidance to confused employees. Many department leaders appeared caught off guard by the directive.

State Department leadership also pushed back against the request. Tibor P. Nagy, acting undersecretary of state for management, reportedly stated that "no employee is obligated to report their activities outside of their Department chain of command," reinforcing the department's autonomy.

The confusion revealed potential coordination issues between Musk's DOGE initiative and established government departments. While Musk's email threatened that "failure to respond will be taken as a resignation," the official OPM communication did not include termination warnings, according to The New York Times.

The absence of clear communication channels between Musk's efficiency team and agency leadership created a chaotic weekend for federal employees who received conflicting instructions from different authorities within the administration.

Trump's efficiency push meets bureaucratic reality

President Donald Trump has empowered Musk and the DOGE project to pursue significant government cuts across federal agencies. The productivity email represents one of the first major initiatives undertaken by this effort.

The resistance from intelligence agencies and the Pentagon demonstrates the complex balance between efficiency drives and operational security concerns in sensitive government departments. National security officials fear that rushed efficiency measures could inadvertently compromise classified operations if not implemented with proper safeguards.

Government efficiency drive continues amid agency tensions

Elon Musk's controversial productivity email has sparked an unexpected clash between Trump's government efficiency advisors and established federal agencies responsible for national security and intelligence operations.

The directive asking federal employees to report their weekly accomplishments was quickly countered by the Defense Department, State Department, Homeland Security, FBI, and intelligence agencies concerned about security implications. The conflict highlights the challenges of implementing aggressive government reforms while maintaining operational security in sensitive departments.

As President Trump encourages Musk to become "more aggressive" in his efficiency efforts, the administration now faces the challenge of balancing its reform agenda with the established protocols of federal agencies responsible for national security and intelligence functions.