Power Struggle...
"A Test for Musk"
Elon Musk, head of the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and CEO of Tesla, recently asked 2.3 million federal government employees to report their recent work performance as part of a high-intensity government restructuring. This move sparked resistance from key department and agency heads appointed by President Donald Trump, according to reports by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and The New York Times (NYT) on the 23rd (local time).
CEO Musk sent an email titled "What did you do last week?" to federal employees through the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) the day before. He requested employees to summarize five achievements from the previous week and respond by 11:59 PM on the 24th. Failure to reply would be considered a resignation.
Even federal agency heads loyal to President Trump opposed Musk CEO’s email. FBI Director Kassy Patel instructed staff, "The FBI handles all review processes through the Director’s office," and ordered, "Temporarily suspend all responses."
Director Tulsi Gabard of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) also told employees via internal message, "Considering the sensitivity and confidential nature of our work, intelligence agency staff should not respond to the OPM email."
The State Department informed employees, "No staff member is obligated to report activities outside the department’s chain of command."
According to foreign media reports, the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Education, Commerce, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Institutes of Health, and the Internal Revenue Service also instructed their staff not to respond to CEO Musk’s email until further guidance is issued.
Opinions are divided even within the Republican Party. Senator John Curtis (Utah) urged compassion for CEO Musk in an interview with NBC, saying, "These are real people. Real lives." Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie told ABC News, "From a management perspective, you can see how messed up this situation is right now." Meanwhile, Representative Jim Jordan (Ohio) defended Musk CEO on Fox News, saying explaining one’s work performance is easy.
Regarding the backlash from key Trump administration agency heads against Musk CEO, a close ally of President Trump, political media outlet Politico analyzed, "A power struggle has erupted between CEO Musk and the agency heads appointed by President Trump."
The NYT described this as "a test of how far CEO Musk’s power will extend," noting that "it shows growing anxiety and vigilance across the administration about Musk CEO’s unchecked authority."
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